Münchner
Stadt
museum

The Project

No strings attached
New Perspectives for a Museum of Performative Spaces and Collaborative Practices

Due to a major renovation, the Munich City Museum is currently closed. Following its reopening in 2031, the museum aims to establish itself as a “third place” – an active, open space for the urban community, including, for example, people affected by classism and families seeking room for creativity and togetherness. The associated comprehensive reorientation is intended, among other things, to reconceive the collections as a resource for empowerment and participation, thereby enhancing the museum’s social relevance. As a starting point, the museum is collaborating with the theatre group El Solar, which incorporates objects and their stories into site-specific performances and productions. Together with the museum, they are engaging with the collections and exploring their gaps, in order to bring about the necessary shift in perspective. As part of a collaborative field study in an area of the city currently under intense gentrification pressure, the team is tracing the histories of socially marginalised groups, everyday life in the courtyards, and the past and present of life beyond the polished façades. Working with local residents, they are developing a joint presentation. The goal is to question established museum narratives, to further develop collection principles, and to test co-curated formats that go beyond traditional exhibition practice, placing at the centre the question of how the collections are interpreted and what they mean.