Special exhibitions
Special exhibition
I MISS YOU
About missing, giving back and remembering
Since 2021, the RJM has been intensively involved in the planned repatriation of the Benin bronzes from Nigeria. The restitution debates have never been as explosive as they are today. But what is behind the restitution demands? What do they mean in concrete terms for the people who are affected by them? What happened at the place of origin after an object was collected and left its place? What emptiness did it leave behind in its country of origin? "I MISS YOU" is a new series about grief, missing, melancholy, broken memories and emptiness.
from 20 September 2023
SPACE4KIDS
Play time!
Since September 2023, SPACE4KIDS has been located in the centre of the museum 1,400 m2 that is all yours. Here you can play, discover and try things out to your heart's content - and that's is even expressly encouraged! Your ideas and questions this space to keep growing.
moreSonderausstellung
17th may to 5th october 2025
Artist Meets Archive #4: Jimmi Wing Ka Ho
Invisible City - An Artistic Intervention in the RJM’s Permanent Exhibition
How visible is a city's colonial past? Jimmi Wing Ka Ho traces the history of the Chinese metropolis of Qingdao, which was under German occupation from 1898 to 1914. Based on historical images from the RJM archive, he examines the traces of the city's violent transformation and the associated narratives that have survived to this day. The photographs and video works created on site open up a variety of - sometimes contradictory - perspectives and blur the boundaries between archival memory and personal experience.
more16th may to 10th june 2025
The Dummy Award 2025
The Dummy Award is the international competition for the most exciting unpublished photo book prototypes of the year. Every year, the PhotoBookMuseum invites international photographers to take part. The jury selected 50 favorites from around 400 submissions - to be shown at the RJM during the Photoszene Festival before they go on a world tour. Visitors have the opportunity to vote for their favorite. Come along, discover new perspectives and vote!
more16th may to 15th june 2025
Next!
is “What do you see and what do I see?” - a celebration of individual perspectives.
Organized by: Internationale Photoszene Köln, German Children's and Youth Film Center (KJF), SK Stiftung Kultur, jfc Medienzentrum
Supported by: RheinEnergie Stiftung Kultur and the Annelie and Uwe Hoffmann Foundation
Our exhibition formats
Special exhibitions
The large exhibition hall is used for a wide variety of special exhibitions and exciting programmes.
Point of Focus
In the Point of Focus (Blickpunkt) exhibition area, we shed new and critical light on our own collection in close cooperation with the communities of origin.
Art intervention
To enliven our permanent exhibition, which opened in 2010, with new approaches and ideas, we regularly conduct “art interventions” – large and small, realised by invited artists, students, associations or by ourselves.