Mishpocha – The Art of Collaboration Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt

What happens when people come together to create something new – and in doing so, form bonds that take the place of family ties? “Mishpocha”, “Mischpoche” or “Mischpacha” means “family” in Yiddish and Hebrew. This exhibition is an invitation to expand traditional ideas of family and origin into communities that see diversity as a creative driving force – as a form of lived democracy through collaboration and solidarity.

With the opening of its temporary exhibition, the Jewish Museum is striking new notes in its participatory practice. The artistic director of the multimedia and interactive exhibition, accompanied by a series of happenings, is Mike D. (Beastie Boys), who has spent over two years coming to Frankfurt to develop the concept together with the museum team, Atelier Markgraph and the IMA Clique. At the heart of MISHPOCHA is the shared experience of making and experiencing music together. The exhibition and its accompanying programme reinterpret the Yiddish word for family, “mishpoche”, as a metaphor for artistic networks and for a sense of community beyond biological family structures.

Visitors are welcomed in the forecourt by an open stage and the OY/YO sculpture by artist Deborah Kass. The exhibition parcours begins with a sound installation and presents contemporary artworks by, among others, Tammy Rae Carland, Geoff McFetridge and Shimon Wanda, as well as a further development of Jan Zappner’s project Mischpoche. An immersive video installation invites visitors to dive into punk, riot grrrl, hip-hop and rave scenes, while a studio space encourages them to create music themselves.

As part of MISHPOCHA, there will also be hip-hop workshops, concerts and performances across the city, as well as two collaborative exhibitions: at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden (Memory in Action: Marcelo Brodsky, 26 March – 28 June 2026) and at Opelvillen Rüsselsheim (Under the Skin. Tattoos in Focus, 30 April – 13 September 2026). A specially designed magazine in German and English accompanies the project.

The Jewish Museum Frankfurt makes the diversity of Jewish cultures in history and the present tangible. To this end, it collects, preserves and researches cultural assets and testimonies of Jewish life in Frankfurt. Through its art and cultural history exhibitions, educational programmes and digital offerings – as well as its commitment to experimental formats – the Jewish Museum Frankfurt aims to be a museum without walls.