The exhibition focuses on housing in the "Arrival City," a city of immigrants.

The exhibition explores life in the immigrant city—the “Arrival City”—and examines both aesthetic and social issues.

Plakat-Motiv zur Ausstellung: Soula Palatianou in ihrer ersten eigenen Wohnung in Essen-Kettwig, 1970er Jahre
© Agentur für Geistige Gastarbeit, Bonn | Gestaltung: Groupe-Dejour
Plakat-Motiv zur Ausstellung: Soula Palatianou in ihrer ersten eigene... — Plakat-Motiv zur Ausstellung: Soula Palatianou in ihrer ersten eigenen Wohnung in Essen-Kettwig, 1970er Jahre © Agentur für Geistige Gastarbeit, Bonn | Gestaltung: Groupe-Dejour Plakat-Motiv zur Ausstellung: Soula Palatianou in ihrer ersten eigene...

How do people settle into temporary living arrangements? And how do furnishings and taste reflect the process of arrival?

Housing is a basic need and, at the same time, an expression of memory and identity. In the context of migration, however, it often becomes a challenge—marked by departure, arrival, and improvised solutions.

After 1945, much of Germany’s housing stock had been destroyed. From the 1950s to the 1970s, migrant workers often lived under precarious conditions, such as in barracks or former camps. Later accommodations—for contract workers in the GDR or for asylum seekers in the 1990s—were also frequently characterized by cramped and makeshift conditions.

Migration always also means creating a place for oneself: furnishing a room, setting up furniture. These things reflect social conditions and make the political dimension of housing visible. At the same time, even under difficult conditions, living can foster a sense of home.

The exhibition “Tapetenwechsel” is part of the City Museum Berlin’s thematic focus on migration. This also includes the exhibition “Geteiltes Leben,” which, starting September 10, 2026, at the Museum Ephraim-Palais, will present artistic perspectives on migration and exile since the 1970s.