Weltkulturen Labor and Green Room exhibition

How would a 1950s girl feel if she lived in a magnificent Wilhelminian villa, why are Tintin and Snowy important for the work in the Africa Collection, and why is a missing chocolate ear causing a big stir?

The Weltkulturen Museum was founded in 1904 by a group of citizens for citizens. For over a century it has been a place where stories have been created, collected and narrated, but also repeatedly discarded. Who tells what, what remains untold, and what is ultimately recorded?

STORIES NARRATE HISTORY focuses on untold personal perspectives of individuals connected to the Weltkulturen Museum. The stories are strange, formative, cheerful, or doubtful, revealing unfamiliar and almost intimate insights into life and work in the buildings at Schaumainkai 29–37. The aim is not to provide a comprehensive historiography or re-narrate the museum’s history, but instead to focus on the people who have inscribed their own histories into the institution.

The exhibition uses objects, historical documents, architectural plans, photographs and publications to show that there is more than one objective reality. This forum for polyphony and multiple perspectives provides space for subjective points of view, inviting visitors to examine the exhibits and the history of this museum from a range of standpoints.

The debates concerning insufficient exhibition space are also tightly interwoven with the museum’s history. For almost fifty years there has been talk of expanding the museum: models, designs, and extensive correspondence on the issue will also be on display in two rooms.

The discussion space initiated specially for this exhibition invites visitors to exchange opinions and undertake their own analysis of topics relating to the museum. In addition, visitors will be able to put together their own small history book from stories told in the exhibition.

Postcards spanning decades of museum history can be purchased from our small shop, as well as posters, bags, games and an edition of chocolate artworks by artist Minerva Cuevas (Mexico).