Politics and Poetics from the Sickbed
Nothing is as closely associated with being ill as lying in bed. The special exhibition ‘Horizontal – The Sickbed and the World from a Lying Position’ explores how perception and our relationship with the world change when the bed becomes the centre of one’s life.
Image gallery
Davoser Liegestuhl, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Benoît Piéron, Le Lit, 2011
Patientinnen bei der Liegekur, Lungenheilanstalt Falkenstein 1888
Historical objects and archive materials, artistic works, activist perspectives and the voices of those affected enter into a dialogue that spans from the 19th century to the present day.
The result is a multifaceted picture that presents the sickbed not merely as a place of medical intervention, but as a space where fundamental questions of our time converge – questions of participation, care, solidarity and the conditions for rest in an exhausted society.
With artistic contributions by
Angela Alves, Annabelle, Annett Gröschner, Aron Neubert, Bed Zine, Black Power Naps (Navild Acosta and Dr Shadow F. Sosa), Gritli Faulhaber, Katharina Sabernig, Katharina Sophia Scharff, Käthe Kollwitz, Liz Orton, Wilhelm Müller, Nightstand Collective (Emma Jones), Paula Kempker, Poppy Nash, Rosy Lilienfeld, Benôit Piéron and Philipp Veit.
Additional information
Hours:
- Monday, closed
- Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
- Wed, Sat, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Open on the following holidays during regular hours:
- International Women’s Day, March 8
- Good Friday & Easter Sunday
- Ascension Day
- Pentecost Sunday & Pentecost Monday
- German Unity Day, October 3
Closed
- Christmas Eve, December 24
- Christmas Day, December 25
- New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day December 31 & January 1
- Labor Day May 1
Accessibility
The museum is accessible to visitors with reduced mobility. The museum building and all exhibition and event spaces are generally accessible by wheelchair.
The entrance is accessible via a ramp. The ticket desk is not wheelchair-accessible from the floor, but it is possible to communicate whilst seated.
The exhibition spaces can be reached via a wheelchair-accessible lift. The doors open at the push of a button. An accessible toilet is located in the museum’s basement next to the cloakroom.
Wheelchairs, walking frames and portable folding stools can be borrowed free of charge from the ticket office. Assistance dogs are permitted in the museum.
Quiet Hours – Visiting the exhibition in a calm and low-stimulus atmosphere
- Saturdays 10 am–12 noon: 5 December 2026
- Wednesdays 5 pm–7 pm:
