Rainer Vollkommer Explained

Rainer Vollkommer (born 20 July 1959 in Munich) is a German-Swiss classical archaeologist and art historian.

Biography

Rainer Vollkommer studied classical archaeology, prehistory, history of art, egyptology and Near and Middle Eastern archaeology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, between 1978 and 1979. He graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts (Licence en art et archéologie) at the university of Paris IV-Sorbonne where he completed also the master's degree (Maîtrise en art et archéologie) one year later. From 1981 to 1984, he pursued his doctorate degree at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. The supervisor of the doctorate thesis was Sir John Boardman. From 1984 to 1994, Vollkommer worked as a scientific editor at the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) in Basle, a NGO (non-governmental organization) of the UNESCO. In addition he taught as a lecturer at the universities of Freiburg in Breisgau in Germany (1985-1994) and of Fribourg in Switzerland (1989-1994). From 1994 to 1998, Vollkommer was lecturer (Oberassistent) at the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the University of Leipzig and chief curator of the Museum of Antiquities of the University of Leipzig, where he took part in building the Museum of Antiquities of the University of Leipzig. From 1998 to 2000, he was Professor (substitution) of Classical Archaeology at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg in Breisgau in Germany.

Between 2000 and 2002, Vollkommer was art dealer and expert at the Jean-David Cahn AG in Basle. From 2002 to 2011, Vollkommer was director of the State Museum of Prehistory at Dresden and of the Archaeological Archive of Saxony which were part of the Saxon State Office for Archaeology. In December 2009 he was appointed honorary professor at the Dresden University of Technology.

Vollkommer was director of the Liechtenstein National Museum in Vaduz from April 2011 to July 2024.[1] The Room of Industry at the Liechtenstein National Museum, the complete renewed Postal Museum and in 1915 the new Museum «Treasure Chamber Liechtenstein“ were installed during his direction.[2] [3] [4] In 2023, he became president of the Winckelmann Society in Stendal, having been a member of the board of trustees since 2006 and vice-president since 2009.[5]

He married the archaeologist Doris Vollkommer-Glökler[6] in 1990. They have one daughter.

Memberships

Vollkommer was president of the association „Museums and Castles of the region of the Lake Constance (Museen und Schlösser Euregio Bodensee e.V).“ (over 100 museums and institutions of the region of the Lake Constance, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein), between 2012 and 2015. Vollkommer was founding and board member of «Experience Vaduz» (Erlebe Vaduz, location marketing of the Capital of Liechtenstein), between 2015 and 2023. From 2019 to 2023, he was secretary of EEN (European Exhibition Network). He was member of different international institutions as national correspondent of NEMO (The Network of European Museum Organisations), national correspondent of EMF (European Museum Forum) / EMYA (European Museum Year Award), member of the meeting of the directors of the national museums of Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. He was member of the working team (Arbeitskreis) of the German speaking museums of history and also board member of the Austrian Association of Museums and board member of the association „Museums and Castles of the region of the Lake Constance (Museen und Schlösser Euregio Bodensee e.V).“

Additional Activities

Since the beginning of the 2010s, Vollkommer was highly committed to the field of digital innovation in museums. The newly established Postal Museum was equipped with a digital letter catalog and a digital travel route from Milan to Lindau. In collaboration with the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Liechtenstein, a crowdsourcing Facebook competition was developed, as well as an augmented reality project for an exhibition with a research project on the effects of augmented reality within virtual learning environments. Other initiatives included the Instagram and Twitter media wall "Liechtenstein Moments," the Digital Museum Innovation Summit, innovation lab project seminars like "Print My Postcard," and the Children's Museum App.[7]

He participated in the four-year EU project "smARTplaces," in which 7 museums from 5 countries and 2 universities from 2 additional countries took part, with Rainer Vollkommer being part of the steering group. Several apps and audio guides in many languages were also created. Furthermore, it was always of great importance to Rainer Vollkommer to enliven a museum through a wide variety of events. For example, at the Liechtenstein National Museum, the number of events increased from around 20 per year when he arrived to 200 per year. In addition to more typical lectures, discussions, readings, and guided tours, small theater performances and dances were also staged.[8]

Notably, many music events were held in Leipzig, Dresden, and Vaduz, including classical music, opera, choral, and folk singing, as well as folk and Latin American music, and rap. In Dresden, in addition to the first major fashion show in East Germany after reunification, the largest disco and music events in Saxony were organized, with between 1,500 and 5,000 participants (e.g., Strawberry Disco and Palais Sommer, both of which were first held during Vollkommer's tenure). Evening presentations held in collaboration with embassies and consulates, where a country was showcased through films, photos, discussions, music events, and tastings, were also of great importance.[9]

Exhibitions

More than 120 special exhibitions were presented under his twelve years of direction. Many of these exhibitions were curated by Rainer Vollkommer. The exhibitions showed a wide range of topics: history, art, culture, customs, society, environment, nature, music, industry and mathematics. Many exhibitions were shown later on in other countries. Many block-buster exhibitions were created. Exhibitions were made in collaboration with more than 20 countries. Some of the exhibitions got loans from 20 to 40 countries. A lot of exhibitions about Liechtenstein were presented, too.

Selected exhibitions

Publications

Rainer Vollkommer authored six books, edited over 60 books/catalogs/encyclopedias, wrote around 50 major articles in academic journals, and contributed more than 2,000 entries to various encyclopedias. He served as a scientific advisor for Brockhaus Archaeology, Geo Theme Encyclopedia of Archaeology, ADAC's Book of Millions of Years, and World History in 20 Volumes (Bertelsmann).

Monographs

Editorialships

External links

References

  1. Web site: 2024-09-26 . 2024-08-05 . de . Arbeitszeugnis Rainer Vollkommer Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum .
  2. Web site: Feierliche Eröffnung "IndustrieWelt Liechtenstein" Liechtensteinischen Industrie- und Handelskammer (LIHK) . 2023-09-23 . www.lihk.li.
  3. Web site: Liechtenstein hat eine neue Schatzkammer . 2023-09-23 . Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft . de.
  4. Web site: – Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum . 2023-09-23 . www.landesmuseum.li.
  5. https://www.winckelmann-gesellschaft.com/organisation/ Winckelmann-Gesellschaft: Organisation
  6. [viaf:69189171|VIAF 69189171]
  7. Web site: 2024-09-26 . July 2017 . de . Neues Museum – Die österreichische Museumszeitschrift .
  8. Web site: 2024-09-26 . smARTplaces.eu . 2018-02-09 . The Faces of smARTplaces: Rainer Vollkommer .
  9. Web site: Arbeitszeugnis Rainer Vollkommer.pdf . 2024-09-26.
  10. Web site: Fischwelten – Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum . 2023-09-23 . www.landesmuseum.li.
  11. Web site: Der Fotoband Natura Morta ist in der Asservatenkammer des Bundesamtes für Naturschutz entstanden und erinnert an die Bedeutung der Artenvielfalt . 2023-09-23 . Kehrer Verlag . de.

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