Large ships including the “Seefalke” rescue tugboat, the “Elbe 3” fire ship, and the “Rau IX” whaler with its harpoon on the bow are moored in the museum harbor, located outside and directly opposite the exhibition. Upon entering the museum, smaller ships catch one’s gaze: waves of 1,500 model ships beckon visitors and give a taste of what is to come – an introduction to the diversity of and fascination with the world of ships.

Ships are both places of work and places of longing, connecting people and continents, creating wealth, and enabling the exploitation of the oceans. They are often technical masterpieces, serving as a testimonial to human innovation and living environments. “In the exhibition, we fully investigate the ship. We show how ships are designed, built, and operated,” explains Prof. Dr. Ruth Schilling, director of the DSM. “But above all, we want to show how relevant they are to our lives.”

The exhibition is divided into topics such as “Ships & the Environment,” “Ships & Equipment,” “Ships & Physics,” and “Shipbuilding.” At the center of the exhibition is a large research vessel – a massive abstract installation with a length of 34 meters, width of 7.5 meters, and height of 13 meters. Here, as everywhere else in “Ship Realms,” interactive stations and numerous exhibits invite museum guests to experiment and discover. The rooms are specifically catered towards children and families. “We want our impact to be as widespread as possible,” Schilling emphasizes.

On the bridge of the research ship, guests become sailors, study nautical charts, develop routes, and steer the ship. On the work deck, they take samples from the seabed with the help of an underwater robot. The cargo area hosts research equipment that can be examined and explored. The exhibition features media stations where researchers tell about their work and expeditions. One of these was MOSAIC, the greatest arctic expedition of all time, which was coordinated by member institutions of the U Bremen Research Alliance.

“The close cooperation between the institutions of the U Bremen Research Alliance is evident in many areas of the exhibition.” Prof. Dr. Ruth Schilling

It is no coincidence that the installation is reminiscent of the “Polarstern,” a vessel used for the yearlong MOSAIC expedition in the arctic ice by researchers from 20 nations led by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. AWI and the German Maritime Museum are neighbors, and AWI played a crucial role in developing this exhibit.

Exhibits from other member institutions of the U Bremen Research Alliance can also be seen, and include an underwater robot simulator from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen. The Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) also provided their expertise in the form of intensive advice on pH analyses. “The close cooperation between the institutions of the U Bremen Research Alliance is evident in many areas of the exhibition,” emphasizes Schilling, who is also responsible for the conceptual design of the “Ship Realms” exhibition.

Conceptual work for the exhibition began in the autumn of 2014, and it quickly became clear that the exhibition should include treasures from the museum depot, which comprises more than 60,000 objects. Plans were also made for the “Ship Realms” exhibition to be supplemented by a second, equally significant exhibition in the foundation building of architect Hans Scharoun. This exhibition, titled “On Board – Ships Change the World” would focus on the ship as a medium for exchange, mobility, and communication.

However, renovations to the dilapidated extension, now home of “Ship Realms,” devoured more money than expected. Funding for the modernization of the original building is therefore lacking, and the starting date for the “On Board” exhibition is unclear. “We very much hope for further support. The ‘Ship Realms’ exhibition only tells half the story,” says Schilling.

Exhibitions are always teamwork. Specialized museum designers assisted DSM employees by creating the atmosphere and the spatial effect of the exhibition – a collaboration that requires mutual understanding. “As a curator, I have certain topics in mind. We then wrestle over how to implement them.” This is evident in the topic of fishing, a sub-point of “Ships & the Environment.” We want to show how fishing has advanced into new dimensions through technological developments, while also bringing awareness to the ecological costs. The exhibition features a rusty otter trawling board that is dragged across the seabed, thereby damaging soil organisms, which testifies to this dilemma. Historian Ruth Schilling serves as managing director of the DSM and senior curator of the exhibition, and holds a professorship in Maritime History at the University of Bremen. It is therefore no wonder that students and doctoral candidates are also involved in the research and concrete planning of this and other exhibitions.

The results include those of doctoral student Deike Reddig, who wrote her master’s thesis on women in shipyards and curated the “Shipbuilding” area. Perhaps Anja Binkofski’s doctoral thesis topic on ship recycling in northern Germany will also make its way into the exhibition at some point. She started her dissertation project at the DSM on May 1, 2024. Research zones, which show what is currently being worked on in the DSM, are part of the concept of “Ship Realms.” For example, the information in the exhibition about ammunition in the sea and about guest workers in shipbuilding comes from research projects within the DSM.

Ruth Schilling can imagine even more references to current topics, such as the much-discussed CO2 storage in the sea. “My dream is a museum that is and remains alive, that is open, full of surprises, and stimulates debate,” says the scientist, who left Berlin for Bremerhaven, her father’s hometown, in 2014. Since then, she has contributed significantly to the modernization and transformation of the DSM, which had long defined itself primarily as a conveyor of technical history.

Today, the museum’s motto is “Understanding the world from the perspective of the sea.” The DSM seeks to become a place that reflects the history, current state, and future of humans and the sea and covers topics such as climate change, tourism, trade, and sustainability. Schilling also wants to renovate the outdoor area and make it more attractive. “This house has completely changed. We are a completely different museum than we were just a few years ago. The region can be proud of the German Maritime Museum.”

These changes are also visible in the exhibition, which is supported by funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Bremen State, and the City of Bremerhaven, as well as by one million euros from the “Investments for National Cultural Institutions in Germany” funding program of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Bright, friendly, and with vibrant colors – nothing about the 2,800 square meter exhibit has the atmosphere of an old, dusty historical museum.

One of the exhibitions highlights is the “Shipbuilding” area, which shows the complete life cycle of a ship: from planning to construction and christening to scrapping. A scaffolding structure creates a shipyard atmosphere; large screens show workers talking about their tasks. The projection of a launch gives an impression of the magnitude and power of this moment. It becomes very evident that shipbuilding was and still is a unique endeavor.

Digital Maritime Discoveries

Until November 3, 2024, the interior of 24 historical navigation instruments, medicine bottles, whale teeth, and by-products of the “Bremen cog” can be explored digitally in the special exhibition “VISUAL PIECES – Maritime digitally discovered” at the German Maritime Museum. As part of the joint project “Digital Materialities: Virtual and Analogue Forms of Exhibiting Museum Artefacts” (DigiMat), the exhibits at the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes at the University of Bremen were recorded using a 3D X-ray microscope. The digital images add new views to complement the historical exhibits, thus making them visible and tangible in a completely new way. The technical use of the digital extension opens up unusual perspectives on the inner workings of the exhibits.

This article comes from Impact – The U Bremen Research Alliance science magazine

The University of Bremen and twelve non-university research institutes financed by the federal government cooperate within the U Bremen Research Alliance. The joint work spans across four high-profile areas and thus from “the deep sea into space.” Biannually, Impact science magazine (in German) provides an exciting insight into the effects of cooperative research in Bremen.