Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig

The third instalment of MdbK [next;raum] will be developed from May to September 2025 as part of a group process. To this end, people from Leipzig and the surrounding area are invited to engage with the topic of Break in regular meetings.

The project phase will include various workshops in which we will explore the topic of taking a break through performance and action art. The 10 meetings take place from around 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm.

The maximum number of participants is 15, and we take into account as many different perspectives as possible when putting together the project group. For more information and if you are interested in the group process, please contact us at nextraum.mdbk@leipzig.de.

As part of the recontextualisation of the collection, the MdbK has created a place for participation and dialogue - the MdbK [next;raum]. Located in the room group of the Renaissance collection presentation on the first floor, it sees itself as an interactive instrument for entering into an exchange with urban society. The city and the museum come together, jointly develop content on contemporary topics and critically question the collections, their presentation and mediation. The MdbK [next;raum] provides impulses for events and initiates processes of change. In this way, the museum not only acts as an institution for imparting knowledge, but also wants to learn from the perspectives of urban society.

The MdbK [next;raum] is funded by the 360° - Fund for Cultures of the New Urban Society programme of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and is also supported by the feminist library MONAliesA Leipzig.

The Leipzig Museum Concept 2030 defines museums as "mediators of social change". Inclusion and participation are highlighted as central concerns. In order to enable different interest groups to participate, "rooms in the exhibition area could be made available to them on a permanent basis", says the paper adopted by the city council.

Against this background, a team and mission statement process took place at the MdbK in 2021 and 2022. It was stated: "Works of art stimulate discourse, interaction and education. Participatory offers, events and exhibitions are the foundations of our institution, which invites participation. We take up socially relevant issues and develop formats for active participation".

It is in this context that the MdbK [next;raum] came into being. The project sees itself as a field of experimentation within the presentation of the collection. It invites a broader engagement with art outside the art historical canon. Visitors become participants and can thus have a stronger cognitive, affective and actional impact on the institution as a local public. This form of project work contributes to the MdbK integrating important premises such as sustainability, participation and involvement into its museum work. People from different backgrounds are invited to realise their individual references and own perspectives on specific questions in the context of the art museum. Their own processing strategies are to contribute to the fact that other visitors will also have the confidence to adopt new perspectives. In this way, marginalised perspectives, questions, themes and artworks that are not exhibited, not collected and not represented can gain relevance.

After MdbK [next;raum] #01 negotiated the topic of Gender in MdbK in 2022, a new group has been meeting in MdbK [next;raum] #02 since January this year on the topic of Unlearning | Learning. How does one learn to forget outdated knowledge? How can exhibitions and museum processes be linked with unlearning processes in the future?

In 10 workshops, the participants addressed various aspects of unlearning. Criteria such as class, racism, discrimination, but also aspects of the museum were to be analysed, reflected upon and "unlearned". An interdisciplinary perspective was created through discussions with colleagues, reform pedagogues, authors, activists, everyday survivors and social workers.

In its exhibition scenography, the current [next;raum] is dedicated to the theme of the garden in order to make unlearning tangible. Located in the middle of the collection spaces, it functions as a place of invitation and a field of experimentation for analogies to the theme. It collaborates with living nature, allotments and garden cultures. What do old fruit varieties and old masters, fences and pennants, showcases and abandoned plots tell us? What do permacultures taste like and how can plum jam help to make decisions in the museum more joyful and democratic?

.The MdbK [next;raum] started in 2022 with the project Unterm Rock. Reflections on gender issues, wich dealt with the representation and reception of gender and gender constructions in the MdbK collection. For this, associations, initiatives and individuals from Leipzig were invited, whose perspectives have so far been underrepresented in the MdbK. Anyone who was interested and willing to commit to continuous participation in eight workshop dates could take part. There was no application or exclusion procedure, which was greatly appreciated by the participants. The cooperation was remunerated with an expense allowance. The aim was to engage with the group's discussions and questions, in images and visual reflections - supplemented by background information provided by the MdbK or via literature provided by Leipzig library MonAliesA. One success is that the room with its visible results has also questioned attitudes and stimulated discussions within the museum. As a part of the project work, the MdbK Gender Day took place on 12th November 2022. This theme day was aimed at all those who wanted to find out about the above-mentioned issues and enter into conversation with the MdbK about them. The programme included performances, talks and guided tours at the MdbK [next;raum] , a panel discussion with guests and a collaborative meal at Café Treff.