Tapetenwechsel

Migration and Furniture since 1960

   

This exhibition is dedicated to living in a migrant environment, what sociologists call an “arrival city.” It examines both the aesthetic and the social aspects. How do people settle in to makeshift spaces? And how do furnishings and tastes reflect the process of settling in?

Location
Museum Ephraim-Palais
Poststraße 16
10178 Berlin

Opening Hours
Tue – Sun | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
(also on public holidays)
Mon closed

Additional Opening Hours
see Info & Service

Admission
7 euros (single ticket) | 15 euros (combi-ticket*) | free admission (under 18 years or with reduction)

*Valid on two consecutive days for the Museum Ephraim-Palais, the Museum Nikolaikirche and the Museum Knoblauchhaus.

Habitation is a basic human need. Apartments are storehouses for memories and an expression of our own self-image. Migration makes habitation difficult. The process is marked by departures and arrivals, by resourcefulness and workarounds.

Migrant workers’ camp, Ruhr region, 1974
© Ruhr Museum, Essen | Photo: Manfred Vollmer
When the war ended in 1945, sizeable swathes of Germany’s housing had been destroyed. Following their “change of scene,” migrant laborers to West Germany between the 1950s and the 1970s sometimes found themselves sleeping on park benches. Their “apartments” were garden sheds, barracks, or camps once used for wartime forced labor. The era of “guest labor,” or immigrant workers in Germany was characterized by hostels surrounded by barbed wire, condemned buildings, and cramped rooms. And the housing for the contract workers in East Germany in the 1980s could be described as home-less homes, as the antithesis of homey. Much like the housing for asylum seekers in the reunited Germany of the 1990s.
Migration also means furnishing a room, setting up a table, hanging a curtain. But the sofa, the TV, the shelves, the rubber plant are more than just things. They also denote social standing. The political dimension of a habitation is made visible in the lease, in letters, or in the house rules. At the same time, the daily practice of living can create a home even under difficult circumstances.
Two chairs, with names and messages carved into them, undated
© DOMiD, Köln

The exhibition “Tapetenwechsel – Migration and Furniture since 1960″ is part of a focus on the history of migration at the Berlin Stadtmuseum. Another part of that is the exhibition opening on September 10, 2026 called “Geteiltes Leben“, also at the Museum Ephraim Palais. It will showcase artwork in the context of migration and exile since the 1970s.
 
Guest Curators: Burcu Dogramaci und Manuel Gogos

Supported by:

Tickets

Admission

Combi-Ticket
15 euros
Valid for our three museums in the Nikolaiviertel (Museum Nikolaikirche, Museum Ephraim-Palais, Museum Knoblauchhaus) on two consecutive days (please note opening hours)

Single Ticket
7 euros
Day ticket for the Museum Ephraim-Palais

Free admission
With proof of reduction

for children and adolescents under 18 years of age, students, trainees, FSJ/FÖJ/BFD volunteers, Berlin Ticket S holders, severely disabled persons (at least 50% GdB) and their Personal Assistant, refugees (with a valid work or residence permit/eAT and a Ukrainian passport or valid residence permit from Ukraine), recipients of transfer payments (Bürgergeld, ALG I), holders of the Berlin-Brandenburg Ehrenamtskarte, holders of the Super-Ferienpass / Berliner Familienpass, ICOM members, members of Deutscher Museumsbund, Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Stadtmuseums Berlin e. V. (except for the Museumsdorf Düppel), Förderverein Museumsdorf Düppel e. V., and Förderkreis Museum Knoblauchhaus e. V., media representatives with a valid press card.

Info & Service

Opening Hours

Tue – Sun | 10 am – 6 pm (also on public holidays)
Mon closed

Differing opening hours:
Wed | 20.05. | 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. (Staff meeting)
Mon | 25.05. | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (Whit Monday)
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)
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 of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin apply.

Directions

Poststraße 16
10178 Berlin

Contact

Infoline
+49 30 24 002-162
Mo – Fri | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Write E-Mail

Accessibility

The Ephraim-Palais is accessible without steps. All exhibition areas are accessible via an elevator. There are barrier-free toilets in the building.

Programme

Permanent Exhibition

Visit our major Berlin exhibition on the 1st and 2nd floors of the Museum Ephraim-Palais!

Das Plakatmotiv zur Ausstellung
© Stadtmuseum Berlin | Fotos: Philip Myrtop auf Unsplash, Rolf Goetze, Cecil F. S. Newman, Marlene Leppänen auf Pexels, Harry Croner, Raimund Franke, unbekannte:r Fotograf:in, Cottonbro Studios auf Pexels, Walter Schulze, Leonore Schwarzer und Vindhya Chandrasekharan auf Pexels | Lithografie: unbekannte:r Künstler:in | Druck: Groupe Dejour

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