Who does not know the thread of life, the golden thread? Who is not interwoven with others? We encounter threads in myths, language use, and also in art, where they are often used as metaphors, models, or mediums. Therefore, this exhibition thematically explores the symbolic meanings of thread for people and human life.

THREADS thus brings together works by contemporary women artists, along with exemplary spinning utensils, and graphics with motifs from select Greco-Roman myths. These works, deliberately gathered from different contexts and categories, are “interlaced” in such a way that they offer visitors—to continue this train of thought—numerous connecting threads, enabling them to engage with the use and meaning of thread as a symbol of personal and social narratives. Conceptual and associative spaces open up between the poles of fate and responsibility, trust and skepticism, individuality and collectivity, and power and powerlessness. The exhibition in MAIN SPACE thus builds bridges from antiquity through the present into a possible tomorrow.

Illustration: Vanessa Oppenhoff, Alone on a hill 8, 2011, © Vanessa Oppenhoff, photo: Michael Klein

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Louise Bourgeois, Jeongmoon Choi, Alphonse-Victor Colas, Vincenz Grüner, Eva Hesse, Maria Lai, Rosa Loy, Cesare Nebbia, Vanessa Oppenhoff, Crispijn van de Passe, Antonio Tempesta, Rosemarie Trockel, Heike Weber

For additional digital mediation on site, we use the app Actionbound in the exhibition THREADS. During the tour, you can answer quiz questions, solve exciting tasks, and learn something about the ideas of our curators.
Taking advantage of this offer is easy: to start the current tour, all you have to do is download the free app and ask for the QR code at the museum reception the next time you visit. If needed, we will provide an iPad for the duration of the visit on which the app is already installed.

We also offer you the opportunity to discover the exhibition with an audio guide.