Museums have the potential to address and negotiate socio-political topics through exhibitions and supporting programmes. They should not be seen as passive observers or neutral mediators of knowledge, but rather as active players in the production and presentation of knowledge. What we see in museums shapes our understanding of art, culture and society. Thus, museums have a responsibility to engage with and approach different perspectives and social groups, to involve them and to scrutinise: who makes museums for whom? This is in line with ICOM's definition of a museum, which identifies museums as promoters of diversity and calls for participatory collaboration with communities. Furthermore, the "Standards for Museums" guidelines formulated by ICOM Germany, the German Museum Association (DMB) and the Conference of Museum Advisory Centres in the Federal States (KMBL) encourages museums to actively engage with current societal changes and challenges.
One of these challenges is the current rise in right-wing populist to far-right attacks on the democratic foundations of our society. This also includes attacks on marginalised groups that are discriminated against and excluded from social discourse. Against this backdrop, it becomes clear how important museums are as political actors. In addition to exhibiting, collecting, preserving and researching, they can also be platforms for dialogue and reflection. By recognising this responsibility and actively taking a stand, museums can become a space for social transformation and develop their potential as cultural and political actors.
Munich Is Looking for Its LGBTQIA+ History
The Münchner Stadtmuseum (Munich City Museum) acts as the city's main collector of local history and illustrates the city's developments in a variety of ways. The Stadtkultur (city culture) collection places a special focus on contemporary themes that characterise urban society. It has set itself the goal of focussing on groups and topics that have long been neglected in the historiography of the city, but which are an integral part of Munich's urban society. For example, in addition to migration research (external link, opens in a new window), another focus has been placed on collecting Munich's LGBTQIA+ history. In cooperation with the Forum Queeres Archiv München e.V. (Queer Archive of Munich) and the Stadtarchiv München (Munich City Archive), a campaign called "Munich is looking for its LGBTQIA+ history" (external link, opens in a new window) was launched at the beginning of 2019. By encouraging citizens to donate pieces related to queer culture and history, the museum hopes to close the gap concerning local queer history in their own collection. After all, what cannot be found in repositories and archives cannot be preserved, researched, represented and told. The search is ongoing for personal memorabilia and everyday objects such as photographs, video and audio recordings, prints, banners, diaries, items of clothing and other objects and documents that depict the lives of queer Munich residents and the work of the LGBTQIA+ communities and the lesbian-feminist women's movement and can preserve queer history as information carriers for the future. There are now around 1000 objects in the museum database labelled with the keyword "LGBT". The collection's online album (external link, opens in a new window) offers a small glimpse into the collection.
Take a look at the invitation card for Freddie Mercury's 39th birthday at the Henderson in 1985:
The checkered invitation card not only serves as a visual represents of the night's black and white theme, it also hinted at Freddie Mercury's outfit for the evening. Impressions of the "Black and White Drag Ball” can be seen in the music video for the Queen song "Living on my Own", which was recorded the same night. Freddie Mercury lived and partied in Munich's Glockenbach district from 1979 to the mid-1980s. During this time, four studio albums by Queen and Freddie Mercury's solo album were recorded in Munich's Musicland Studios.
Objects relating to contemporary queer history and current challenges are also included in the collection.
With the closure of Lillemor's Frauenbuchladen (Lillemor's women's bookstore) in 2023, the 48-year history of Germany's first women's bookshop came to an end. It was succeeded by the volunteer-run queer-feminist bookshop glitch, which was funded by a queer collective that wanted to resist the loss of yet another feminist space in Munich. In addition to selling selected books on queer and feminist topics, glitch also serves as a meeting and event venue.
Exhibiting Queer History
In order to present queer history as a natural part of the city's history, it is not sufficient to 'just' collect objects relating to it. Only exhibitions make it tangible for a wide audience and enable the representation of queer life. The exhibition "Nachts. Club Culture in Munich" (2021-2024, Munich City Museum) incorporated objects that highlighted the history of the city's queer nightlife. For example, the following t-shirt was part of an exhibit on the importance of fashion and dance as a means of identification.
The t-shirt was donated by a feminist lesbian who, after coming out, wanted to be recognised by like-minded people. She picked this t-shirt because she believed there were two Venus symbols on it. Only much later did she realise that it actually depicts two women kissing and that the supposed Venus symbols are simply the outlines of the headphones the two women are wearing. The message of the T-shirt was less subtle than its owner had originally thought, but that only made her like it more.
The object represents the need to express and experience belonging.
Another online album (external link, opens in a new window) shows objects that were also on display in the "Nachts." exhibition, and which demonstrate the special significance of queer bars, pubs and clubs as places for finding a collective identity.
One chapter of the exhibition "What the City" (opening spring 2025), which is currently in development, will focus on queer protest culture in Munich. The exhibition looks at different perspectives on the city of Munich, its historical developments and current plans for the future.
The demands and achievements of the queer communities in Munich since the 1970s are told on the basis of partly original, partly reproduced protest signs. These signs makes it clear that this is a social movement that is self-organised and actively campaigns for self-determination and legal equality. The fact that the rights that have been fought for by queer people are once again threatened by right-wing populist and anti-feminist propaganda emphasises the relevance of the ongoing commitment of queer activists.
Collaborations
In addition to the classic museum tasks, museums can also serve as an urban forum and social meeting place. Collaborations not only enable a multi-perspective examination of current social issues that particularly characterise life in Munich, they also offer the opportunity to reach an audience previously unfamiliar with museums.
Around Prideweeks in June 2023, the artist collective queer:raum took over Galerie Einwand at the Munich City Museum. Galerie Einwand was a venue for events and exhibitions on the history and present of post-migrant Munich. During the ten-day residency, the artists created a collaborative and interdisciplinary artwork dedicated to queer life in Munich from a post-migrant perspective. The resulting artwork "Wer bin ich wo?" (Who am I where?) was added to the Stadtkultur collection after a subsequent three-week exhibition.
Furthermore, to mark the highlight of PrideWeeks, a dedicated party area was set up in the inner courtyard of the Munich City Museum and one of the biggest lip-sync battles in Munich's city history was organised together with the queer-inclusive Munich collective LOVERS. The crown of the winner of the All-Star Lip Sync Battle was presented to the Sammlung Stadtkultur after the event.
Collecting and preserving queer urban history requires an active effort. In order to be recognised by the community as a repository of queer urban history, it is necessary to keep reaching out to activists from the relevant associations, initiatives, groups and networks. This is the only way to build trust in the municipal and state memory institutions, which have ignored the concerns and history of queer people for far too long. And only by continuously collecting and preserving queer history can the clear underrepresentation of LGBTQIA+ culture in the institutionally canonised cultural memory of (urban) society be counteracted.
A guest article by the Münchner Stadtmuseum (Munich City Museum)
Pia Singer