Lab #02 – Mind the Gap!

Exhibiting What's Missing

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. This raises the following questions: How can DOMiD's planned migration museum deal with gaps (in terms of design) in its permanent exhibition? In which ways can the LGBTIQA+ stories from within the migration society be told?

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.

The work of the curator-collective concludes with an exhibition, Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants, which will be hosted by the Kulturbunker Köln-Mülheim.

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.

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.

Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants

The exhibition Mind The Gap! Narratives and Questions from LGBTIQA+ Migrants is the result of the DOMiDLabs’ second Lab. Based on personal stories and experiences, the exhibition addresses the hitherto prevailing gap of LGBTIQA+ perspectives in the DOMiD collections. Moreover, it explores various ways to deal with existing collection gaps both through the exhibition design and its contents.

Duration: 31.03. – 04.05.2023

Opening hours

Mondays, Tuesdays and public holidays closed
Wednesday through Friday: 3 – 7 pm
Saturdays and Sundays: noon (12) – 7 pm

Exhibition space: Kulturbunker Köln-Mülheim, Berliner Str. 20, 51063 Köln

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

"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 texts are selections from the thoughts and experiences of the curatorial collective. 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 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

The exhibition texts – as well as the guided tours by the curatorial collective – were bilingual, in German and English. 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

Program

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

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