Questions about DOMiDLabs?

DOMiDLabs: Making Museum Design Participatory (DOMiDLabs) was a project by the Documentation Center and Museum of Migration in Germany (DOMiD). DOMiDLabs was funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation from 2021 through 2024.

DOMiDLabs brought various people together over the course of four laboratories (labs). Together they developed design concepts and content around a variety of topics and questions, which will help DOMiD create a multifaceted and engaging migration museum in Cologne Kalk. Each lab run for about eleven months and concluded with an exhibition. The ideas and findings resulting from the labs were presented to the public in these exhibitions, and visitors tested and commented on them. The exhibitions displayed in various locations in Cologne between 2022 and 2024.

Over the course of the project – which run from 2021 to 2024 – there were four labs. The labs carried out in Cologne. You can find further information on this website under "DOMiDLabs" and soon under "News".

The topics of the labs were:

Lab #1 Meet Up! at the Museum – The "Haus der Einwanderungsgesellschaft" as a Site of Encounter

Lab #2 Mind the Gap! – Exhibiting What's Missing

Lab #3 Re-Act! – The Design of (Re-)Active Elements

Lab #4 Trigger Warning! – Sensitive Objects and Topics in a Multi-Perspective Exhibition

In each laboratory (lab), there was either a regular fixed or a varying, changing group of participants. The groups were made up of people from the many varied and diverse segments of the city's society.

In addition, the DOMiD team invited one person who developed the concept of each lab and led and facilitated the exchange workshops with the other participants. Each of these people contributed their own methods, brought their many years of experience with projects involving diverse groups of people in different ways.

Each lab also included people with professional experience in constructing exhibitions. They helped to present the results of each lab in an appealing and engaging way.

The DOMiD Team did not only run the project, but was also involved in each lab.

People from various and diverse segments of the city's society were directly invited to participate in a laboratory or found through an open call for participants. Open calls were announced on this website and our social media channels.

People also participated after the opening of each lab's exhibition. They supported our labs by attending the exhibitions and by leaving their feedback.