The Berlin Toy Wunderkammer
The US artist Mark Dion has created a work of art from objects in the toy collection of the Stadtmuseum Berlin. With hundreds of exhibits, his installations in the Nikolaikirche Museum not only explode space and time, but also take a critical look at children's toys themselves.
Image gallery
Plakatmotiv zur Ausstellung mit Spielzeugen aus der Sammlung des Stadtmuseums Berlin
For the exhibition, Mark Dion spent months researching the Stadtmuseum Berlin's collection of around 70,000 objects, one of the largest in Germany.
The result of his selection is a labyrinth of board games, animals that climb a pyramid, vehicles of all kinds that compete in an imaginary race on a circuit and other installations.
With hundreds of exhibits, they not only explode space and time in the Nikolaikirche Museum, but also take a critical look at children's toys themselves.
Mark Dion has been working intensively since the late 1980s on the question of how knowledge is created and passed on in museums, always with an alert eye for systems of exploitation and oppression.
After all, toys, which are mostly designed by adults for children, always convey ideas about people and their world.
In dealing with toys, children practise certain role models, and toys are used to teach them specific themes or ideologies.
Additional information
Opening hours
daily | 10 - 18 h
Special opening/closing times
- 24.12. (Christmas Eve) | closed
- 25.12. (Christmas Day) | 2 - 6 pm
- 26.12. (2nd Christmas Day) | 2 - 6 pm
- 31.12. (New Year's Eve) | closed
- 01.01. (New Year's Day) | 2 - 6 p.m.
Price info:
Children and youth up to 18 years free admission
Price: €7.00
Reduced price: €4.00
