--- title: "Mark Dion. Delirious Toys" date: 2023-08-28 last_modified: 2024-02-07T13:25:08+01:00 generated_at: 2026-05-22T21:04:14Z url: "https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/exhibition/mark-dion-delirious-toys" description: "Zum Kunstherbst 2023 hat der US-amerikanische Künstler Mark Dion aus Objekten der Spielzeugsammlung des Stadtmuseums Berlin ein Kunstwerk geschaffen." image: "https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/MD-DT-Webseite-Final.png" language: "en-US" --- # Mark Dion. Delirious Toys ### The Berlin Toy Cabinet of Wonder ![]() ![Plakatmotiv zur Ausstellung mit Spielzeugen aus der Sammlung des Stadtmuseums Berlin](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/MD-DT-Webseite-Final.png) Poster motif for the exhibition with toys from the collection of the Stadtmuseum Berlin ![Savoir-vivre im Nikolaiviertel: Das Museum Nikolaikirche ist umgeben von Cafés, Restaurants und liebevoll geführten Geschenkläden.](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IMG_57121.jpg) In the Museum Nikolaikirche, the Stadtmuseum Berlin presents this year's special exhibition for the Art Autumn. ![Im ehemaligen Kirchenschiff des Museums Nikolaikirche setzt Künstler Mark Dion behutsam einen Spielzeug-Krankenwagen auf einen langen, zur Rennstrecke umfunktionierten Tisch, auf dem sich bereits viele andere Autos befinden.](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/mark-dion-das-grosse-rennen.jpg) Artist Mark Dion places a historic toy car in his installation "The Great Race". - A labyrinth of board games; animals climbing a pyramid; vehicles of all kinds engaged in an imaginary race on a circuit: For Art Autumn 2023, the US artist Mark Dion has created a work of art from objects in the toy collection of the Stadtmuseum Berlin. Location Museum Nikoalikirche Nikolaikirchplatz 10178 Berlin **Opening Hours** daily | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. **Special Opening/Closing Times** see Info & Service **Entry** 7 Euro / 4 Euro (reduced) | free admission under 18 years **Combi-Ticket**: 10 euros / 6 euros (reduced) Valid for two consecutive days for the Museum Nikolaikirche and the Museum Ephraim-Palais. For the exhibition, Mark Dion spent months researching the collection of around 70,000 objects, one of the largest in Germany. The result is a kind of labyrinth of board games; a pyramid of animals, a circuit with an imaginary race between vehicles of all kinds and other installations. Dolls, military toys and a "poison cabinet" with borderline or cross-border toys are also on display in the exhibition, which is accompanied by a 36-page brochure (included in the admission price). Since the late 1980s, Mark Dion has been intensively concerned with the question of how knowledge is created and passed on in museums, always with an alert eye for systems of exploitation and oppression. After all, toys, which are mostly designed by adults for children, always convey ideas about people and their world. In dealing with toys, children practise certain role models, and toys are used to teach them specific themes or ideologies. In another installation, also young people from the Berlin Gymnasium Tiergarten deal as *Junior Corators* creatively with these aspects of toys. ## Behind the scenes Video | 2:52 minutes [![Mark Dion sichtet mit Mitarbeiterinnen des Stadtmuseums Berlin Spielzeuge aus der Sammlung im Museumsdepot.](https://stiftung-stadtmuseum-berlin.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mark-dion-spielzeugsammlung-stadtmuseum-berlin-300x200.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rzw-1hJQmQ) ## Programme ## Info & Service ##### Opening Hours daily | 10 am – 6 pm (also on public holidays) **Differing opening hours:** Wed | 20.05. | 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Staff meeting) Sun | 21.06. | 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. (Museum Festival / Fête de la Musique) Sat | 29.08. | 10 a.m. – 2 a.m. (Long Night of Museums) Mon | 31.08. | Closed Mon | 14.09. – 01.10. | Closed (Change of exhibition) Thu | 24.12. | Closed (Christmas Eve) Fri & Sat | 25. + 26.12. | 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. (First & Second Christmas Day) Thu | 31.12. | Closed (New Year’s Eve) Fri | 01.01. 2027 | 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. (New Year’s Day) The [visitor rules](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/besuchsordnung-stadtmuseum-berln.pdf) of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin apply. ##### Directions Nikolaikirchplatz 10178 Berlin [ Google Maps](https://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=Nikolaikirche%2C%20Nikolaikirchplatz%2C%20Berlin&aq=2&oq=Nikol&sll=52.514027%2C13.415251&sspn=0.015096%2C0.030513&vpsrc=0&ie=UTF8&hq=Nikolaikirche%2C%20Nikolaikirchplatz%2C%20Berlin&ll=52.517527%2C13.40744&spn=0.030189%2C0.061026&t=m&z=14&iwloc=A&cid=6093985458874356584) [ Bus & Train](https://www.bvg.de/en/connections/connection-search) ##### Contact Infoline +49 30 24 002-162 Mo – Fri | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. [Write E-Mail](mailto:info@stadtmuseum.de) ## Supported with funds from the: ![Logo Lotto Stiftung Berlin](https://stiftung-stadtmuseum-berlin.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LOTTO-Stiftung_4c_Transparent-300x147.jpg)