Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik)

The Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (ZfK) is a transdisciplinary theory and practice-oriented research and teaching central institute of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. It focuses on cultural techniques in the sense of practices for the production, transmission and processing of knowledge. 

The ZfK is one of the few established platforms, nationally and internationally, on which experts in material culture and cultural techniques, epistemologists, curators and artistic researchers come together in an inspiring, theory-driven environment. Founded in 1999, the ZfK was established in order to create synergies out of unconventional collaborations across all faculties, including the natural sciences and the humanities, from which its members are drawn, as well as curatorial and artistic practices.

It oversees the university’s collections and exhibition spaces—including the Tieranatomisches Theater, the Humboldt Labor in the Humboldt Forum, and the Kleine Humboldt Galerie —and it is responsible for the Lautarchiv and the Kunstsammlung, as well as for the coordination of all the University’s collections, which are shared with the public in a digital database, as well as through inclusion in exhibitions, teaching and artistic research. The internationally renowned Coordination Centre for Scientific University Collections in Germany is also based at the ZfK. 
Among its research groups are The Technical Image, which explores the epistemic role of images within science and technology, and inherit – heritage in transformation, a Käte Hamburger Kolleg investigating changing understandings of heritage in global and local contexts.