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Special Theme Day on 2 June 2024 to Mark the Extension of the “ALL HANDS ON: Basketry” Exhibition until May 2026

21.05.2024
Museum Europäischer Kulturen

For almost two years, the comprehensive interactive special exhibition, ALL HANDS ON: Basketry, at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK, Museum of European Cultures) has been delving into the fascinating cultural technique of basketry, revealing connections between historically evolved knowledge and modern innovation. The exhibition has now been extended until 24 May 2026. To mark this occasion, the MEK has organised an admission-free Museum Sunday special theme day in the museum garden and the exhibition space beginning at 2 pm on 2 June 2024.

Event Programme on 2 June 2024

• 2–5 pm
  Basketry Demonstration with Wenke Paul
  Location: The museum garden
• 2–4 pm
  Public Workshop: Basketry
  Location: Exhibition workshop area
• 2:30–4:30 pm
  Jugend im Museum e. V. (Young People at Museums) Introduces Itself
  Location: The museum garden
• 3 pm
  ALL HANDS ON: Cake!
  Location: The museum garden
• 4 pm
  Curator’s Tour of the Exhibition with Sofia Botvinnik
  Location: The tour begins in the MEK lobby

ALL HANDS ON: Basketry has been extended and expanded.

Basketry is a cultural technique that is thousands of years old, practised worldwide, regionally distinctive and still a handicraft in the truest sense of the word. Humans alone have mastered the complex weaving method, with no machine capable of replacing their artisanship. The exhibition’s four sections – People, Protection, Material and Patterns – offer visitors the chance to discover numerous woven everyday objects from across Europe stemming from the MEK collection. The ALL HANDS ON: Basketry exhibition has been extended until 24 May 2026.

The different topics are linked via multiple interactive stations that allow museum visitors to tactically experience the intangible cultural heritage contained in woven objects. Contemporary art and design works using various weaving techniques offer additional perspectives on the artisanal tradition.

In 2025 and 2026, artists Chris Kabel (Netherlands), Polly Pollock (Great Britain), Aly de Groot (Australia), and Gundel Liebmann (Germany) will join Barbora Brčiaková, Erika Rudíková and Tomáš Mikolaj (Slovakia) as Artisans in Residency to work on-site at the MEK on individual weaving projects inspired by the exhibition. Their works will also be shown in the exhibition.

Media Partners: HIMBEER, and tipBerlin

Supported by the Friede Springer Stiftung and the Verein der Freunde des MEK.

ALL HANDS ON: Basketry is a special exhibition by the Museum Europäischer Kulturen – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), the European Ethnology programme at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, the European Media Studies programmes at the University of Potsdam and the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, and the Gartenarbeitsschule Steglitz-Zehlendorf.