Annual programme 2024

We embark on journeys to Faraway Countries, Faraway Times (March 15 to July 7) with our special guest, the writer Felicitas Hoppe, who takes us on a literary journey into the world of travel posters and photochromes, and—just in time for the European Championship—into football stadiums with Andreas Slominski (Residences versus Birthplaces, March 15–July 14).

We follow in the trails of the duo Gordian Troeller and Marie-Claude Deffarge on their legendary Stern features (from November 15) and travel not only in the head, but also take a very specific look at the head. Because hair is everyone’s business. This could be another title of our major autumn show Grow It, Show It! (from September 13). From the fascinating photographs of Diane Arbus to image stagings and self-representations on TikTok, the exhibition takes a look at how hair and hairstyles are an expression of our individuality and group membership, of cultural formation and political dimension.

Of course, a spotlight on our own collection and exhibition history should also not be missing in 2024: Willi Baumeister at Museum Folkwang. Signs of Time (February 23–June 16, 2024). And we have another surprise for you for the months of August and September. Together with the Ruhrtriennale, we will set the museum in motion.

In keeping with the Folkwang idea, our 2024 programme will focus on people and their imagination in a powerful and diverse way, across epochs and disciplines. Beyond the exhibition programme, the sustainable dialogue with the cultures of urban society remains at the top of our agenda.

New exhibitions and collection displays

Wolf D. Harhammer: Two Realities
February 9–May 26, 2024
Harhammer’s world is that of the funfair. The work of the photographer from Stuttgart was long considered forgotten. At regional festivals in the mid-1970s, he photographed the lives of artists, acrobats, animal keepers, clowns and others who sought their place in the microcosm of the circus.

Willi Baumeister At Museum Folkwang: Signs of Time
February 23–June 16, 2024
On the occasion of the new acquisition of the painting Montaru 2d by Willi Baumeister (1889–1955) an exhibition on the collection and the significance of the artist for the museum is being shown. Around 30 paintings and works on paper illuminate the artist’s work in the context of the museum’s history.

Andreas Slominski: Residences versus Birthplaces
March 15–July 14, 2024
For the European Football Championship, Museum Folkwang is presenting the group of works Residences versus Birthplaces by Andreas Slominski: over 80 football posters that the artist and football fan Slominski collected between 1986 and 1988. A portrait of society that is as passionate as it is active. It puts fan culture in the spotlight.

Farawary Countries, Faraway Times: Posters as a Place of Longing
March 15–July 7, 2024
Until the 20th century, travel was denied to many people; it was considered an elitist pleasure. The longing for faraway places was satisfied with the help of pictures and travelogues and posters became places of longing for many people. The exhibition brings together around 300 posters. In addition, numerous photochromes, postcards and a replica of an imperial panorama complement the poster exhibition. Writer Felicitas Hoppe writes a literary accompaniment for the show, that sheds new light on the subject of “travelling in the mind”.

Grow It, Show It! A look at hair from Diane Arbus to TikTok
September 13, 2024–January 12, 2025
Kim Kardashian wears it long, Johnny Depp more casual, Marilyn Monroe platinum blonde and Grace Jones razor short. Hairstyles and hair define how we see ourselves or how we want to be seen by others. The way we present or conceal head hair, underarm hair, leg hair, chest hair, whiskers or pubic hair can indicate ethnic, cultural and religious origins and thus also has to do with questions of identity. In a wide range of positions, historical and contemporary works by photographers and artists such as Diane Arbus, Julia Margaret Cameron, Anouk Kruithof, J. D. Okhai Ojeikere, August Sander and Cindy Shermann will be shown alongside adver-tising posters, record covers, YouTube tutorials and TikTok videos.

Troeller / Deffarge: Stern Features and Films
November 15, 2024–February 2025
French journalist Marie-Claude Deffarge (1924–1984) and Gordian Troeller (1917–2003) from Luxembourg stand for a political and critical journalism in Europe from the 1950s onwards. Both reported from more than 70 countries around the world, but preferably from the Middle East and the Global South. Their features were published especially in the 1960s in Stern magazine; their later films were broadcast on television. With the first comprehensive retrospective combining photo and film features, the work of the two journalists can now be rediscovered.

6 ½ Weeks
From February 9, 2025

New Worlds: Discovering the Collection
All year round