KonzeptioNerd

Long Journey

Frankfurt’s Senckenberg Museum have extended their latest display extravaganza Safari zum Urmenschen till August 15. Reason enough to recap my visit of a few weeks ago.

Safari zum Urmenschen - Die Geschichte der Menschheit entdecken, erforschen, erleben (Safari to the prehistoric man - discover, explore, experience the history of mankind) follows in the footsteps of last year’s famed Deep Sea exhibition. Safari is housed in the same annex as Tiefsee, a humble two-storey box that can accomodate which ever floor and level plan your exhibition concept needs. And the shows they put up there are among the best German museum design has on offer these days. If you’re at all interested in human archaeology, take the trip, it’s worth it.

However, there were a few usability issues that kinda bug me …

Website of Senckenberg's Sarafi zum Urmenschen

First of all, about half the groud floor is taken up by the life-size model of an excavation site - minus the archaeologists, let alone a few fossils. Again half of that space contains a more or less empty truck - with a note saying that all (pre-)human fossils found to far would fit into the back of that truck. Nice way of visualizing things, but, still, a bit of a waste of space.

Placed around the model site are half a dozen interactive consoles with desicription of equipment and daily live. But, hey, if you’ve come here not kicking and screaming to get out again and are old enough to be able to access the touch screens and to understand those big words, chances are, you’ve already seen most of what the screens try to tell you, on TV. Really, the whole first part is awfully atmospheric, but offers little in added value. Bit like a splash screen before a website.

And then, there’s the thing about the braille plates. I mean, it’s a nice touch to have info in braille next to your exhibits, but … Big BUT. There were indeed a few interactive exhibits that visitors are allowed to touch. Like, for example, hands and feet of modern humans an primates compared. However, no braille next to the things you can touch. The only things with embossed printing were the stelas that carry plastic heads recreated from all the prehistoric skulls ever found. (A whole room full, the centrepiece of the exhibition, VERY impressive to LOOK at.) No touching of the heads, though. So, why the braille? (And why, while we’re at it, do the heads face away from the print text plates and the skulls so that it’s close to impossible to actually compare skull and recreation? Duh.)

Still - great exhibition. Learnt some things about 3D scanning and printing of fossiles, walking upright and prehistoric music (with headphones, erm, -horns). Nice website, too.

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