Mapping without Borders

Berlin Exhibition at the Humboldt Forum
Questioning World Maps with Patricia Vester
© Illustration: Patricia Vester

Black History Month at BERLIN GLOBAL: A critical journey through colonial map worlds with Patricia Vester

Prices
Regular: 9 euros
Reduced: 0 euros
Children: Children and young people under 18: free
Price info

The event is free of charge. You only need a valid ticket for the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition.

Location
Room War and WELTSTUDIO at BERLIN GLOBAL
Event
Duration
3h

The school wall map Germany’s Colonies (1937) hangs in the room War of the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition. It was used in classrooms from the mid-1930s and shows how wars were prepared in schools. Colonial revisionist demands and aggressive National Socialist propaganda will soon be less present and visible in the exhibition space.

During this year’s “Black History Month”, illustrator and intervention designer Patricia Vester worked with interested visitors to develop new perspectives on how maps are handled.

Patricia Vester explored ways of approaching historical map material sensitively and invited visitors to join her on this journey. The result is a visual, critical exploration of school maps and teaching materials from German publishing history. Themes include fears and claims to space, scanned cities, digital wandering and travelling as a Black German.

In this event, she presents the outcomes, talks about the collective design process and shows the short film created during the project.

The film documentation also serves as a freely accessible resource for teachers to use in the classroom.

About the artist

Patricia Vester
© Illustration: Patricia Vester

Patricia Vester

Patricia Vester is an illustrator, intervention designer, activist, curator, process facilitator and museum consultant on colonial contexts and museum practice, as well as a developer of anti-discrimination approaches to art and cultural education. She was born in Germany to a German mother and a Ghanaian father. Her interest lies in colonial traces and the lack of spaces for addressing them. She seeks dialogue on possible educational formats and creates comics and graphic novels as workbooks. Her work can be found in institutions such as the Museum Utopie und Alltag, Stadtmuseum Cottbus, Museen Stade, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe and the Brandenburg Museum für Zukunft, Gegenwart und Geschichte.

Info & Service

Opening Hours

Mon + Wed – Sun | 10.30 am – 6.30 pm
Tue | closed

Last admission is at 5.30 pm

Special Opening Hours

Christmas holidays, New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day
Wed | 24.12.2025 | closed
Thu | 25.12.2025 | 12 noon – 6 pm
Fri | 26.12.2025 | 12 noon – 6 pm
Tue | 30.12.2025 | 10:30 am – 6:30 pm
Wed | 31.12.2025 | closed
Thu | 01.01.2026 | 12 noon – 6 pm

Directions

Schlossplatz
10178 Berlin

Contact

For ticketing and service requests, please contact the Humboldt Forum Visitor Services:
+49 30 9921 189 89
Mo – Fri, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.

Dates

Mapping without Borders
Black History Month at BERLIN GLOBAL: A critical journey through colonial map worlds with Patricia Vester
Berlin Exhibition at the Humboldt Forum