Das Habitat-Diorama um 1900

The habitat diorama - a display case in which taxidermied animals are presented in a designed landscape behind glass - is one of the most important visual media of natural history museums in the 20th century and continues to shape their exhibition practices today. Authenticated by the specific reception situation, the habitat diorama creates powerful representations of an idealized habitat that appears biological but clearly has political, and especially colonial, dimensions. With a methodologically innovative approach, Theresa Stankoweit examines this complex media structure for its aesthetic mechanisms and discusses, among other things, the status of the taxidermied animals as images. Central examples include two displays created around 1900 from the Frankfurt Senckenberg Museum, showcasing the flora and fauna of German East Africa and Arctic life, whose history of creation is reflected upon for the first time.