What the City.
Perspectives of Munich

Gewerkdesign was commissioned by the Münchner Stadtmuseum to spatially stage highly relevant topics of the city in the exhibition »What the City. Perspectives of Munich« exhibition. The museum is undergoing a general refurbishment and redesign for several years, but the Zeughaus on the ground floor, a late Gothic columned hall, is already available for this interim exhibition. In our laboratory-like exhibition, participative and accessible approaches are being trialled that could later serve as a blueprint for the museum's future design.

In ten chapters, identity-forming but also problematic issues of the Bavarian capital, including tradition and growth on the one hand, poverty and racism on the other, are highlighted. We juxtapose the supposedly idyllic city of Munich with a provisional exhibition architecture made up of urban elements in order to draw attention to the latent disorder behind the tidy backdrop: Scaffolding, barrier fences and surveillance cameras form the basic architectural structure of the exhibition. The asymmetrical, irregular exhibition architecture in the existing medieval architecture indicates that Munich is not necessarily as orderly and harmonious as the self-portrayal and the common cliché suggest. We also use light to emphasise this: The white, geometric vault of the existing architecture is illuminated from below, creating interlaced shadows and emphasising the lively character of the exhibition architecture even more.

Our central design element is a wooden platform that runs along the entire circumference of the space and provides barrier-free access to the exhibition. The platform constantly offers new, multi-layered views of the space, in which the exhibits are visible in changing combinations. For example, we have incorporated urban benches with metal armrests into the space as exhibits, whose defensive construction is intended to keep homeless people away, wooden pallets from parklets, where public space is made available for the common good, the DJ and VJ booth from the closed techno club Harry Klein, to draw attention to the displacement of subculture through property speculation, a hairdressing salon as a meeting place to listen to stories about everyday discrimination and to see oneself in the mirror – all of these are scenographic elements with which we depict the contradictions of Munich. There are various opportunities to express one‘s own opinion and participate in the exhibition at hands-on stations. The exhibition is also strongly characterised by its graphic design. Large-format infographics and a set of specially developed emoticons play a prominent role in our scenographic design.