German Music Archive

The German Music Archive, previously located in Berlin, is Germany’s central collection of music and sound recording media, and is an information centre for musical bibliography. Its relocation to Leipzig was used to develop a new concept for presenting this extensive collection of acoustic devices and their associated storage media. The multifaceted and fast-paced development from Edison’s device right up to the digital storage and reproduction of music and sound today forms the chronological framework of the exhibition.

A modern media presentation of the objects as implemented here inherently underscores this aspect of the exhibition. The exhibits from all epochs of electrical sound production are displayed in a highly dense form side by side in large display cabinets that go from floor to ceiling. This is complemented by several media islands with interactive tablets. Using these, visitors can listen to exemplary audio pieces and explanations that match the individual artefacts. The exhibition’s spatial organisation was developed in collaboration with the architects of the Leipzig’s new German National Library building situated adjacent to the museum, the consortium Gabriele Glöckler/ZSP Architects, Stuttgart.