Special Exhibition Stuck in Mobility
The exhibition “Stuck in Mobility” is moving from the Stadtmuseum Halle to the DSM and will be on display in Bremerhaven from August 7, 2025, to March 1, 2026. Five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it highlights the experiences of sailors and refugees during this time. To this end, research findings are transferred into a tunnel-like experiential space: the exhibition allows visitors to experience the confinement and isolation that sailors and refugees have endured during the pandemic. At the opening, the artist collective Kubik will draw attention to the exhibition with a mobile message-in-a-bottle post office. The public is cordially invited to the opening on August 7 at 6 p.m.
During the pandemic, the world has come to a standstill – but not for everyone. Seafarers keep global trade going, often without going ashore for months at a time. Refugees wait in reception centers without knowing when or if they will be granted protection. Both groups experience isolation, uncertainty, and the loss of basic rights, which limits their opportunities for participation and violates their dignity.
The exhibition brings the perspectives of seafarers and refugees to life. Based on research from ethnology, social medicine, and healthcare research, it allows visitors to experience the realities of life for seafarers and refugees – through sound, vibrations, confined spaces, and materials reminiscent of life on board or in reception centers.
The pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing injustices. The exhibition aims to raise awareness of this and stimulate debate on the following questions: How do we treat those who work invisibly for global supply chains or migration systems? How do we prevent isolation and vulnerability from becoming the norm?
Research for the exhibition was conducted by ethnologist Dr. Luisa Piart (Max Planck Institute for Ethnological Research) and social medicine specialists and healthcare researchers PD Dr. med. habil. Amand Führer, Paula Kompa (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg), Prof. Dr. PH Patrick Brzoska, Latife Pacolli-Tabaku, Till Neugebauer, and Dr. Yüce Yılmaz-Aslan (Witten/Herdecke University) conducted research for the exhibition. Maren Schuster (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) coordinated and provided conceptual support for the exhibition.
The exhibition “Still Stehen” was sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation and was previously on display at the Stadtmuseum Halle.
