Our varied programme – featuring events, guided tours and talks at the MARKK.

Buhle Ndhlovu, a curator and author from Windhoek, will be at MARKK in September as part of the project “Namibia and Germany—A New Ethics of Cooperation.” To kick off her residency, a discussion will take place on the relationship between performance, restitution, and provenance research.

In the early 20th century, the ethnographic collection of the MARKK was given a prominent new location for the study of cultural diversity: the purpose-built museum on Rothenbaumchaussee. The collection was displayed in large exhibition halls, where research was closely linked to colonial interests. The façade and interior spaces feature architectural details that reflect the scientific and technical understanding of the period. This guided tour traces these elements and connects them with contemporary perspectives.Museum admission not included.

Curator-led tours and performances as part of the ‘KATZEN!’ exhibition

MARKK invites you to a special encounter with the Sundanese gamelan tradition. Young Indonesian musicians and cultural scholars will explore the influence of gamelan music on Claude Debussy and his compositions, followed by the world premiere at 6:00 pm of newly commissioned works by Marisa Sharon Hartanto for gamelan and piano.

Für krawallige Krabbler und coole Eltern! Das MARKK lädt kulturinteressierte Eltern mit Babys in seine Ausstellungen ein – Inspiration und Austausch inklusive. 

Taking the CATS! exhibition as its starting point, the Landesfrauenrat Hamburg, Queere Vernetzung and MARKK invite audiences to explore, in an engaging and thought-provoking discussion, how gender stereotypes are created, how they shape our perceptions, and how they can be challenged.

How can a listed museum building be prepared for the future? What architectural challenges does a comprehensive modernization entail? And how can a museum preserve its history while opening up new perspectives? As part of Open Monument Day (link to the programme), visitors are invited to gain exclusive insights into the future of the MARKK. During a guided tour of approximately 50 minutes, you will explore the history of the museum building on Rothenbaumchaussee, which opened in 1912, and learn about the distinctive features of this listed heritage building. The tour also focuses on the planned renovation and modernization measures and the vision for an open, contemporary museum. The construction project is managed and overseen by Sprinkenhof GmbH as the project delivery partner. The design is being developed by Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture in collaboration with BIWERMAU Architekten. The tour offers an engaging introduction to how the building's historic fabric will be preserved while creating the conditions for a museum fit for the future. Since 2017, the MARKK has been undergoing a comprehensive curatorial and strategic transformation. With a new permanent exhibition and an open spatial concept, the museum is evolving into a place for encounter, dialogue, and knowledge exchange. These guided tours offer a unique opportunity to experience this transformation process at first hand.

How can a listed museum building be prepared for the future? What architectural challenges does a comprehensive modernization entail? And how can a museum preserve its history while opening up new perspectives? As part of Open Monument Day (link to the programme), visitors are invited to gain exclusive insights into the future of the MARKK. During a guided tour of approximately 50 minutes, you will explore the history of the museum building on Rothenbaumchaussee, which opened in 1912, and learn about the distinctive features of this listed heritage building. The tour also focuses on the planned renovation and modernization measures and the vision for an open, contemporary museum. The construction project is managed and overseen by Sprinkenhof GmbH as the project delivery partner. The design is being developed by Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture in collaboration with BIWERMAU Architekten. The tour offers an engaging introduction to how the building's historic fabric will be preserved while creating the conditions for a museum fit for the future. Since 2017, the MARKK has been undergoing a comprehensive curatorial and strategic transformation. With a new permanent exhibition and an open spatial concept, the museum is evolving into a place for encounter, dialogue, and knowledge exchange. These guided tours offer a unique opportunity to experience this transformation process at first hand.

How can a listed museum building be prepared for the future? What architectural challenges does a comprehensive modernization entail? And how can a museum preserve its history while opening up new perspectives? As part of Open Monument Day (link to the programme), visitors are invited to gain exclusive insights into the future of the MARKK. During a guided tour of approximately 50 minutes, you will explore the history of the museum building on Rothenbaumchaussee, which opened in 1912, and learn about the distinctive features of this listed heritage building. The tour also focuses on the planned renovation and modernization measures and the vision for an open, contemporary museum. The construction project is managed and overseen by Sprinkenhof GmbH as the project delivery partner. The design is being developed by Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture in collaboration with BIWERMAU Architekten. The tour offers an engaging introduction to how the building's historic fabric will be preserved while creating the conditions for a museum fit for the future. Since 2017, the MARKK has been undergoing a comprehensive curatorial and strategic transformation. With a new permanent exhibition and an open spatial concept, the museum is evolving into a place for encounter, dialogue, and knowledge exchange. These guided tours offer a unique opportunity to experience this transformation process at first hand.

Which objects were collected as “Jewish”—and why? Join the guide on a tour of the exhibition “Label: Jewish” and discover the stories behind the exhibits. The focus is on collection items from the Hamburger Gesellschaft für jüdische Volkskunde that were long believed to be lost, as well as questions of origin, memory, and attribution. The tour also provides insights into provenance research and the history of the museum during and after the Nazi era.

Which objects were collected as “Jewish”—and why? Join the guide on a tour of the exhibition “Label: Jewish” and discover the stories behind the exhibits. The focus is on collection items from the Hamburger Gesellschaft für jüdische Volkskunde that were long believed to be lost, as well as questions of origin, memory, and attribution. The tour also provides insights into provenance research and the history of the museum during and after the Nazi era.

This evening offers rare insights into two of Hamburg's most significant Jewish collections and their remarkable histories. Today, MARKK preserves ten objects and documentary traces from the former collection of the Gesellschaft für jüdische Volkskunde, which once comprised several hundred objects.

What do these images tell us today? Whose voices are heard, and whose have long gone unheard? Together, we will explore these questions and discover how artists, scholars, and local stakeholders from Peru are reinterpreting Bruning’s collection. Afro-Peruvian and queer interpretations, artistic interventions, and digital reappropriations bring history to life. The tour offers insights into processes of cultural reappropriation and demonstrates how a colonial-era archive can become a space for dialogue, participation, and new connections across generations and geographical boundaries.

What do these images tell us today? Whose voices are heard, and whose have long gone unheard? Together, we will explore these questions and discover how artists, scholars, and local stakeholders from Peru are reinterpreting Bruning’s collection. Afro-Peruvian and queer interpretations, artistic interventions, and digital reappropriations bring history to life. The tour offers insights into processes of cultural reappropriation and demonstrates how a colonial-era archive can become a space for dialogue, participation, and new connections across generations and geographical boundaries.

In her internationally acclaimed novel Huaco Retrato, Peruvian author Gabriela Wiener recognizes herself in the huaco retratos—pre-Columbian portrait vessels housed in a Paris museum that were taken to France by her great-great-grandfather. With wit and irony, the novel traces her family history while exploring questions of migrant identity, racism, colonial legacy, and sexuality.

In her Zwischenraum presentation, the Pakistani artist Farrah Mahmood Rana allows nature itself to become the storyteller.

In her Zwischenraum presentation, the Pakistani artist Farrah Mahmood Rana allows nature itself to become the storyteller.

Die Geschichten über Pippi Langstrumpf und ihren Vater Efraim, der als König über Taka-Tuka-Land herrscht, zählen zu den populärsten Werken der europäischen Kinderliteratur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Doch gab es tatsächlich einen schwedischen „Südseekönig“?

Die Geschichten über Pippi Langstrumpf und ihren Vater Efraim, der als König über Taka-Tuka-Land herrscht, zählen zu den populärsten Werken der europäischen Kinderliteratur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Doch gab es tatsächlich einen schwedischen „Südseekönig“?

The dance performance Maja and Bastarda by choreographer Laila Tafur is part of the Baila España festival, which is taking place in Hamburg for the first time.