Plural spaces – places of encounter and active exchange – are a fundamental prerequisite for a sustainable and diverse society and thus an essential component of cultural, historical and political education. However, more and more cultural institutions are being drawn deeper into the maelstrom of neoliberal crises. Aachen’s museums are no exception.

Against the backdrop of the publications Das radikaldemokratische Museum by Nora Sternfeld and Das radikaldemokratische Museum revisited (co-authored with Joachim Baur), which have been the subject of discussion within the museum sector, we address the challenges and trends described therein. Using the Aachen Newspaper Museum as an example, we wish to ask the following questions: What do museums actually still mean to us? What role do their spaces play within a heterogeneous, urban and social fabric? How do they remain relevant as places of cultural and social life?

To develop answers to these questions, the seminar draws on interdisciplinary perspectives and transdisciplinary collaboration. In cooperation with the Aachen Museum Service, we aim to explore the potential of Aachen’s museum landscape as social ‘interstitial spaces’ and, as spaces of public life and diversity, to investigate and challenge them both conceptually and creatively in the context of transformative processes.

The aim of the seminar is to develop pop-up concepts for the premises of the Newspaper Museum, created in groups, which reflect the ideas developed during the seminar.

The reading list, which serves as a basis for discussion, is available on Moodle and is expected to have been read by the start of the seminar.