Night Shift
Nighttime Glimpses of the Museum
For our Night Shift project, we followed the people who work after dark: the guards and police officers who protect the museum at night.
The project grew out of our work for the new issue of the JMB Journal on the theme of light.
“Is Somebody There?”
What happens when all the visitors have left, when the exhibitions and offices are deserted and all the lights are out? That’s the night shift for the security detail that protects the building inside and out. We give you glimpses of the museum at night and follow the director of the security team on his patrol with a flashlight, a radio, and only emergency lighting.
Outside are the scattered people and lights of the big city; inside are the vacant spaces of our exhibitions, archives, equipment rooms, and a subterranean maze of core doors. Be careful that you don’t get spooked!
Jewish Museum Berlin, Video: Peter Wollring
This video and photo series were produced in 2018 as a supplement to issue 18 of the print edition of the JMB Journal.
Night Shift in Images
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“My favorite place at the museum is the main entrance.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
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“‘What’s the best way to Baden-Württemberg?’ People ask us the strangest things.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
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“Our main job? Watching, watching, watching.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
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“Two teenagers tried to sneak into the Garden of Exile one night. They must have thought we wouldn’t see them.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
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“Actually, one cannot get lost within the Libeskind building.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
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“When you start to get tired? Coffee helps, or fresh air, or talking with colleagues.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
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“Lighting is centrally controlled in the exhibition rooms.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
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“There are motion detectors in the basement, the light goes on automatically.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“My favorite place at the museum is the main entrance. There you meet visitors from all over the world, since the museum is truly a meeting place. The first tour buses start arriving early in the morning. I tell the visitors they have to be patient until the museum opens, and I answer their questions. At night, the only people who come by are people out for a lonely stroll, or tired partygoers.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“‘What’s the best way to Baden-Württemberg?’ People ask us the strangest things. If someone comes by at night we observe them.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“After my first night shift I'm dead tired. At home I take my dog for a walk. Outside the city, that's where I can relax.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“At night the only visitor is the fox. He does his shift, just like we do. Precisely at 3:30 am. he always slinks through the garden.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“Two teenagers tried to sneak into the Garden of Exile one night. They must have thought we wouldn’t see them. Then they apologized. We left it at that, or else they would have had a criminal record.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“Actually, one cannot get lost within the Libeskind building. Nonetheless in the beginning it's tricky to find your way around!”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“When you start to get tired? Coffee helps, or fresh air, or talking with colleagues.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“We do the inspection rounds alone. Some of us have been known to come back looking pretty pale! At night your senses are particularly keen. In some rooms you have to be careful about what goes on in your head.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“Lighting is centrally controlled in the exhibition rooms. We have no influence at night, it stays dark. But we have flashlights and radio.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
“At night we check all the rooms. The technology rooms, heating rooms, computer server rooms, the storage depots, and the exhibition space. If water dripped anywhere, for example, and collections got wet, that would be a disaster.”
Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Stephan Pramme
