Special exhibitions 2023

Our Daily Water

Water accompanies us, consciously or unconsciously, in all areas of life. As the most consumed beverage, it keeps people healthy. In its clean form, it is used for hygiene. Industries cannot do without water and it is hard to imagine leisure time without it. The exhibition shows us the manifold importance of water in our everyday lives. At the same time it illustrates how we neglect the “blue gold”. How did humans utilise water? What technical efforts were required to have clean and running tap water available at all times? How does our consumer behaviour affect the scarcity of water as a resource? The exhibition sheds light on these and other topics and thus contributes to the current climate discussion. Hands-on stations, an app and accompanying museum educational programme invite visitors to explore the element of water.

The display was created on behalf of the exhibition network “Alltag – Arbeit – Anstoß – Aufbruch”. A book accompanies the exhibition

Transferring the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt’s collection to the Hessenpark Open Air Museum

The collections of the Hessenpark Open Air Museum have been reinforced by a new acquisition. Consisting of around 10,500 objects, the Everyday Culture Collection of the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt has moved into the Hessenpark’s newly built central depot.

The diversity of the collection’s inventory will be illustrated by different subject areas such as housing, advertising, hygiene and war. Twelve chapters ranging from “Particularly Clean?” to “Particularly Unique!” will provide visitors access to selected individual pieces such as artistically painted Easter eggs, a toilet bowl or a cooking box. The presentation deliberately breaks with the impression of being surrounded merely by products of daily use. Presented like works of art, the exhibits appear in a completely different light. This creates an atmosphere of specialness and enables visitors to gain a new perspective on the everyday.

Against this background, the overriding goal of the exhibition is to express the cultural value of those objects and at the same time illustrate the significance of everyday life. Moreover, children can also become active and help decide in which chapter they would like to classify familiar everyday objects.

At the same time, the exhibition exemplifies the close cooperation between the two museums, driven by the intention to make Hessen’s everyday cultural heritage accessible to research and the public at the Hessenpark Open Air Museum.