The UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) is a specialized institute but also a symbol: An embodiment of the value of education as a prerequisite for the establishment of just, equitable, sustainable, and peaceful societies.
The Documentation Center of the IBE functions as both a place and an idea. It is a destination for education researchers because of its valuable collections – a spectacular and unique repository.
But the collections of the IBE do not simply sit on shelves and collect dust. They constitute and represent universal, timeless, continuously relevant ideas – key topics to be studied and taught. It is for this reason that the book – the timeless technology for the capture and transfer of knowledge – was chosen as the symbol to represent the IBE Documentation Center.
This exhibition presents examples of the concurrent permanence and relevance of the IBE’s historical collections: Archival research projects that can be read as chapters of this metaphorical IBE book on display.
But these chapters should also be understood as windows that allow a view on particular places and eras – windows into the IBE collections and windows out into a world ever more in need of the requisite fundamentals for civility and peace.