21 December 2020 press release

At the beginning of the New Year, the German National Library will be offering an unusual “insight” into its collection with a series titled “KlingKlang – sounds from media history”, opening its treasury for our ears. Intended as an acoustic accompaniment to the month of January, there will be 31 video clips in which listeners will be required to guess what they are hearing – the solution will be given at the end of each clip. The series will appear on Instagram (@buchundschriftmuseum), Facebook (@DeutscheNationalbibliothek) and Twitter (@DNB_aktuelles).

Whether the scratching of a quill on parchment or the sound of a 3D printer, a phonograph, a cylinder printing press, a Gameboy or the chirping of an inkjet printer. We will be ringing in the New Year with a whole array of sounds from media history. Every day in January, there will be an acoustic surprise from 5,000 years of media history. The German Museum of Books and Writing and the German Music Archive will be giving the DNB’s media history collection a voice by playing many of its sounds. The items that usually stand silent in the exhibition and stacks will be making themselves heard outside the building: “Silent Night” will be followed by the clatter of the printing machines and the whispering of media.

This short acoustic series will be continuing the cultural experiments of 2020 with formats – born of necessity – that expand the spectrum of tasks performed by the libraries, museums and archives. “Kultur virtuell” is a response to the challenge of reaching the public from behind closed doors. The German National Library offers a constantly changing and growing series of digital readings, guided tours and clips from events at www.dnb.de/kulturvirtuell.

KlingKlang - sounds from media history
31 video clips to listen to and guess what you are hearing
1 - 31 January 2021
Available on Instagram (@buchundschriftmuseum), Facebook (@DeutscheNationalbibliothek) and Twitter (@DNB_aktuelles)

Contact

Dr. Stephanie Jacobs (editor), Tel.: +49 341 2271-575, s.jacobs@dnb.de

Background

For more than 100 years, the German National Library has been collecting, documenting and archiving all media works in text, image and sound format published in Germany since 1913 along with foreign publications about Germany or in the German language; these are then made available to the public. It offers a comprehensive range of services at its site in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main along with digital services that can be accessed all over the world insofar as this is permitted by copyright.

The German National Library also holds extensive special collections of inestimable value in the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing. It regularly organises readings, exhibitions, presentations and concerts to draw attention to its treasures and promotes a culture of books, reading and music with more than 40 million media units, around 220,000 visitors a year to its premises in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, and a varied programme of prestigious events.