Spotlight on Ecclesiastes Museum - Engaging Local Community through World-Renowned Figures
In the heart of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, the Museum im Prediger is currently hosting an enlightening exhibition titled "Wish you were queer. Un-Sichtbarkeit von LSBTI* in Kunst und Geschichte". This multi-dimensional show runs until October 26, 2025, and offers a captivating journey into the (in)visibility of LSBTI* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and other queer identities) life worlds in and around the city[1][3].
The exhibition masterfully blends artworks, historical traces, and objects to illustrate how queer lives and identities have been perceived, hidden, or expressed across time. It showcases significant pieces such as Christian Schad’s 1930 illustration for a Berlin queer venue, highlighting the implicit expressions of queer desire and relationships through art, despite historical eras marked by homophobia[3].
Accompanying the exhibition, a companion book was presented on July 14, 2025, at the Prediger Museum, enhancing the visitor experience and scholarly engagement with the themes of queer visibility and history[2].
The exhibition is a testament to the city's growing openness towards queer culture, as Schwäbisch Gmünd joins other cities like Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, and Freiburg in celebrating queer art and history through Pride parades and events[4].
This exhibition is the result of a three-year project carried out in cooperation between the Museum im Prediger, the city archive, the equality office, and the adult education center, with additional input from a history workshop and engaged citizens[5]. The history workshop "Einhorn sucht Regenbogen", founded in 2022, has researched queer biographies and sites of memory in Schwäbisch Gmünd, discovering a city history "away from the heterosexual norm or the traditional 'man/woman' pattern"[6].
Moreover, the exhibition sets a sign against queerphobia, which has been on the rise, as shown in the Federal Ministry of the Interior's 2024 report, revealing a worrying increase in queerphobic crimes over the past years[7].
Visitors can also participate in a city tour by the Gmünd history workshop, which explains traces of local LSBTI* history, furthering the exhibition's mission to make queer people visible despite their historical invisibility and the destruction of items that could give them away[8]. The municipality of Schwaebisch Gmünd is opening up to the biographies of queer people, facilitated by global role models as demonstrated in the exhibition[1].
The queer emancipation movement was set in motion in 1969 with the uprisings around the Christopher Street in New York, and this exhibition in Schwäbisch Gmünd continues this legacy, offering a valuable contribution to the broader search for traces of queer history[9].
- The management of Museum im Prediger in Schwäbisch Gmünd has collaborated with various entities, including the city archive, equality office, and adult education center, to organize an exhibition titled "Wish you were queer."
- This exhibition, which runs until October 26, 2025, is a part of the city's growing embrace of queer culture, as visible in Pride parades and events in cities like Stuttgart and Freiburg.
- The exhibition offers a captivating journey through artworks, historical traces, and objects, showcasing pieces that reveal how queer lives and identities have been perceived and expressed over time.
- One of the significant pieces in the exhibition is Christian Schad’s 1930 illustration for a Berlin queer venue, which subtly expresses queer desire and relationships despite historical eras marked by homophobia.
- A companion book was presented at the Prediger Museum to enhance visitor engagement and scholarly discussion about queer visibility and history.
- The exhibition is a response to the rise in queerphobia, as revealed in the Federal Ministry of the Interior's 2024 report, which documents an increase in queerphobic crimes over the past years.
- Visitors can join a city tour by the Gmünd history workshop to learn about local LSBTI* history, furthering the exhibition's mission to make queer people visible despite their historical invisibility and the destruction of items that could reveal their existence.
