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Against a neon yellow background is an illustration of a white star. Above it in black capital letters is written "MIND THE GAP!".

News, DOMiDLabs, Participation, Exhibition

Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants

The second exhibition of DOMiDLabs opens!

The exhibition Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants is the result of Lab #02. People with experience in and with LGBTIQA+ community – with and without migration history – came together and formed a curatorial collective. Together with the Labs project team, they explored the questions of how the future migration museum of DOMiD can deal with gaps in terms of content and design in its collection and permanent exhibition and how then, for instance, LGBTIQA+ stories from within the migration society can be told.

The results of their joint work will be presented from 31.03.– 04.05.2023 in the exhibition Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions of LGBTIQA+ Migrants.

***

The Lab team has agreed on using the term LGBTIQA+ as an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual and + for further diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. The German translation of the term is LSBTIQA+, standing for: Lesben, Schwule, Bisexuelle, trans* Personen, inter Personen, queere Personen, asexuelle Personen and + for further sexual and gender identities.

Exhibition Venue: Kulturbunker Köln-Mülheim, Berliner Str. 20, 51063 Cologne, Germany

Exhibition period: March 31 – May 4, 2023

Opening Hours
Mon, Tue and public holidays closed
Wed – Fri: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Sat – Sun: 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Private group tours (max. 15 participants) on request at labs@domid.org
Admission and participation in events free of charge

Against a neon yellow background is an illustration of a white star. Above it in black capital letters is written "MIND THE GAP!". The logo of Lab #02 can be seen at the top right. At the bottom right it says "Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants".
"Mind The Gap!" dealt with the hitherto prevailing gap of LGBTIQA+ perspectives in the DOMiD collections. The exhibition was on display from 31.03. – 04.05.2023 at the Galerie at the Kulturbunker Köln-Mülheim. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 The labyrinth, the first station of the exhibition. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 The photos represent stories that are preserved in the archive. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 The visitors' walk through the archive labyrinth and their partaking in the thoughts of the curatorial collective are a first step to start a conversation about missing and lost stories. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 The texts are selections from the thoughts and experiences of the curatorial collective. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 The stations "Social Circle" and "SAY IT LOUD - SAY IT CLEAR!" invited visitors to engage in conversation with others and to actively participate. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 Conversations about missing and lost stories begin. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 Visitors were invited to take one of the images depicting a historical struggle and update it in their own name as well as with LGBTIQA+ demands. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 "Mind the Gap!" was organized into three rooms and four stations. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 Visitors were invited to discover and add to the many narratives that emerge from the objects and the various combinations of quotations. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 “I went online, on Amazon and bought a dress for my mother, so that she could wear it to the wedding of a cousin of mine back home.” Sari. Cologne, 2022. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 The objects and quotes in this space have a deep meaning for the curatorial collective. But they can also have meaning for the visitors, who play a role in the experience of the collective – whether they are LGBTIQA+ persons, allies, with or without migration history, or just spectators. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 This exhibition is the result of the second laboratory "Mind the Gap! – Exhibiting What's Missing". The DOMiDLabs project will continue through 2024 with two more laboratories. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023 The exhibition was opened by (from left to right) Uta Schnell (Head of Funding and Programmes at the German Federal Cultural Foundation), Adrian Flaksbaum Moll (Curatorial Collective), Sandra Vacca (Project Manager DOMiDLabs), Akshay Kapadia (Curatorial Collective), Niko Wahl (Curatorial Collective), Lorenz Bahr (State Secretary for Integration at the MKJFGFI of the State of NRW), Azziza B. Malanda (PR/Public Relations, Deputy Project Manager DOMiDLabs), Dr. Robert Fuchs (Executive Director DOMiD). Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

"Mind The Gap!" dealt with the hitherto prevailing gap of LGBTIQA+ perspectives in the DOMiD collections. The exhibition was on display from 31.03. – 04.05.2023 at the Galerie at the Kulturbunker Köln-Mülheim. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

The labyrinth, the first station of the exhibition. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

The photos represent stories that are preserved in the archive. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

The visitors' walk through the archive labyrinth and their partaking in the thoughts of the curatorial collective are a first step to start a conversation about missing and lost stories. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

The texts are selections from the thoughts and experiences of the curatorial collective. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

The stations "Social Circle" and "SAY IT LOUD - SAY IT CLEAR!" invited visitors to engage in conversation with others and to actively participate. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

Conversations about missing and lost stories begin. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

Visitors were invited to take one of the images depicting a historical struggle and update it in their own name as well as with LGBTIQA+ demands. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

"Mind the Gap!" was organized into three rooms and four stations. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

Visitors were invited to discover and add to the many narratives that emerge from the objects and the various combinations of quotations. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

“I went online, on Amazon and bought a dress for my mother, so that she could wear it to the wedding of a cousin of mine back home.” Sari. Cologne, 2022. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

The objects and quotes in this space have a deep meaning for the curatorial collective. But they can also have meaning for the visitors, who play a role in the experience of the collective – whether they are LGBTIQA+ persons, allies, with or without migration history, or just spectators. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

This exhibition is the result of the second laboratory "Mind the Gap! – Exhibiting What's Missing". The DOMiDLabs project will continue through 2024 with two more laboratories. Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

The exhibition was opened by (from left to right) Uta Schnell (Head of Funding and Programmes at the German Federal Cultural Foundation), Adrian Flaksbaum Moll (Curatorial Collective), Sandra Vacca (Project Manager DOMiDLabs), Akshay Kapadia (Curatorial Collective), Niko Wahl (Curatorial Collective), Lorenz Bahr (State Secretary for Integration at the MKJFGFI of the State of NRW), Azziza B. Malanda (PR/Public Relations, Deputy Project Manager DOMiDLabs), Dr. Robert Fuchs (Executive Director DOMiD). Photo: Fadi Elias – In-Haus Media 2023

Program

#1 Saturday, 01.04., 4 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 30.03.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#2 Sunday, 02.04., 2 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 30.03.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#3 Thursday, 06.04., 5 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 04.04.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#4 Saturday, 08.04., 2 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 06.04.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#5 Saturday, 15.04., 2 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 13.04.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#6 Saturday, 22.04., 7 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap! during Mülheimer Nacht

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 20.04.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#7 Friday, 28.04., 5 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 26.04.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#8 Sunday, 30.04., 2 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 28.04.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

#9 Thursday, 04.05., 5.30 pm | Guided tour of the exhibition Mind The Gap!

Members of the curatorial collective will guide through Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants. The tour is bilingual, in German and English. Participation in the event is free of charge.

Meeting point: Galerie at the Kulturbunker Cologne-Mülheim, registration until 02.05.2023 at labs@domid.org (max. 15 participants)

Exhibiting What’s Missing

Against a pink background are various illustrations with black lines. In the center there is a museum building with a person holding up a sign in front of it. They are standing on two folders titled Biographies and Photo Album. To the left of the museum building is a person holding a speech bubble over the roof of the building with their disproportionately long left arm. To the right of the museum building is a hand holding a puzzle piece that appears as if it is to be inserted into the right side of the museum.

The second lab Mind The Gap! deals with the topic of collections, and particularly with what is missing from them. In every collection, and in every museum, there are missing objects as well as missing narratives – smaller or bigger gaps. The DOMiD collections also have such gaps: one of them is the lack of LGBTIQA+ perspectives.

Thanks to the support and networks of SOFRA – Queer Migrants e.V., rubicon e.V. with baraka – a place for international queers and Integrationshaus e.V. with Spektrum Queer Group, enthusiastic participants could be found. Adrian Flaksbaum Moll, Akshay Kapadia and Elizaveta Khan joined the freelance curator Niko Wahl (Vienna) to form this lab’s curator-collective. They were accompanied in their work by the DOMiD project team. The design elements and formats were developed in collaboration with the exhibition builders from StiftungFREIZEIT.

The curator-collective met regularly to discuss and exchange on personal as well as societal LGBTIQA+ narratives and topics. Based on these exchanges, the team then developed and tested design elements and formats that translated the notion of “gap” both visually and spatially.

In the project DOMiDLabs: Labs for Participatory Museum Design, different people come together in four labs. Their common goal is to develop design concepts based on various themes that will help the Documentation Center and Museum on Migration in Germany (DOMiD) to build a multifaceted migration museum in Cologne-Kalk. The DOMiDLabs project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation from 2021 to 2024.

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