Anti-racism work
Anti-racism work at the HMF
Frankfurt against racism - action plan to combat racism and right-wing extremism
Together with well over 50 Frankfurt cultural institutions and artists, the Historisches Museum Frankfurt is one of the first signatories of the "Frankfurt Declaration of the Many" and has thus spoken out against racism, homophobia and transphobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. With this declaration, it emphasizes the importance of democratic and artistic freedom and plurality.
City Lab
Stadtlabor is a participatory and contemporary exhibition and event format that has been in existence since 2010. Stadtlabor projects are developed in close cooperation between the museum and the project participants. The exhibitions and events address social phenomena based on subjective experiences. The representation of marginalized groups is a central concern. Implementing migration history as part of German history is one of the strategies pursued in the Stadtlabor.
The Stadtlabor exhibition was dedicated to the various forms of racism and their effects on those affected. However, it also showed how people put up resistance and what strengthens them. Personal experiences of racism, post-colonial issues, resistance movements and empowerment strategies were highlighted. The exhibition also looked at German colonial history, its continuation and posed some uncomfortable questions about the present. It is about social recognition, i.e. visibility and visualization, speaking and being heard and critical self-reflection.
The exhibition's supporting program was also dedicated to the key issues of racism, resistance and empowerment. Panel discussions, storytelling, city tours and performances took place. Above all, they gave people who have experienced racism a platform to share their perspectives and realities of life. The exhibition ended with a symposium on the topic of empowerment sharing. The conference offered spaces for input, reflection and exchange for a solidary and racism-critical present.
"I see something you don't see. Racism. Resistance. Empowerment" (9/2020 - 2/2021): Stadtlabor exhibition with diverse supporting program and symposium
Intervention trail "Blickwechsel - on the trail of racism"
An intervention trail through the museum's permanent exhibitions focuses on colonial history and its impact to this day. In Frankfurt, too, traces can be found from the 16th to the early 20th century. Imperial and colonial ideas continue to have an impact today in the form of racism and structural exclusion. With 18 stations, the participatory project in which the Intervention Trail was created adds critical observations and new perspectives to the exhibits. Artists and activists of color comment on, change and add to selected objects and their stories with their contributions to the exhibition. They present their critical view of the stories handed down in the museum using artistic means. The tour is predominantly formulated from the perspective of non-white and intersectional positions. In their role as co-curators, they offer insight into experiences of racism and stereotypical attributions. In addition to making racism visible, strategies of self-empowerment and resistance are used. The interventions encompass a spectrum of fictional narratives, ironic additions, juxtapositions and protest actions as well as superimpositions of individual museum objects.