Designpanoptikum, Surreal industrial objects museum in Nikolaiviertel, Berlin, Germany.

Designpanoptikum is a museum in Berlin-Mitte that displays thousands of industrial objects, medical instruments, and mechanical devices arranged in unconventional ways throughout interconnected rooms. The exhibition feels like a walkable archive where every corner holds items from different periods of industrial history.

Vlad Korneev began collecting rare utility objects from various centuries while working as first assistant to photographer Werner Bokelberg in Hamburg, seeking unusual props for his photographs. He first ran a shop-museum of the same name at the Markt in Schwerin, then opened the Designpanoptikum on 4 November 2010 at Torstraße 201 in Berlin. In 2017 the growing collection moved to Poststraße 7 in the Nikolaiviertel.

The space functions as a cabinet of technology, where objects from medicine, film, sports, and aviation stand side by side without labels to guide you. Visitors experience how different industrial fields have shaped the way we work and live.

The museum occupies a larger exhibition space at Poststraße 7 in the Nikolaiviertel, a short walk from the Nikolaikirche. There are no labels or descriptions on the exhibits, and visitors are encouraged to handle the objects and speculate about their use. The lighting is deliberately reduced, so allow time for your eyes to adjust.

The museum also houses the Lichtbildpanoptikum, a photo gallery inside the exhibition showing works by Vlad Korneev, who began collecting the objects as props for his own photography while working as first assistant to Werner Bokelberg in Hamburg.