Carnival
in the Global Heritage Lab
12 November 2025 – 15 February 2026
Flyer: Philipp Rohn
By Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter
Carnival moves bodies – in Bonn, across the Rhineland, and around the world.
As a living cultural practice and cherished heritage, Rhineland Carnival is more than costumes and parades: it is a space of performance, satire, resistance, and collective joy. Mir fiere, mir verkleide uns, mir stelle de Welt op d’r Kopp.
The exhibition Dressing Resistance: Fashion and the Heritage of Mission explores how Christian missionisation has shaped bodies, clothing, and fashion cultures in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean—and how artists and designers engage with this legacy today.
Within this context, Carnival opens a global perspective. From the Black Atlantic to the Rhineland, missionary histories and their afterlives continue to inform festive cultures, aesthetics, and practices of resistance.
This section invites you to join in: dress up, reflect, share stories, and take part. Come as you are – or as someone else for a moment – Jede*r Jeck es anders. Maach met, loss dich drieve, un fiere met uns. Carnival is not only to be watched – it is lived.
Photos, © Max Heeb/Philipp Rohn, November 2025
Events
Make Some Noise! Eine Karnevals-Jam-Session,
16 November 2025 at 4 pm
7 February 2026 at 4 pm
Carnival Meeting, Each Saturday at 4 pm, (show your costume, make a photo, reflect upon the meeting of Carnival)
The exhibition section is open from 12 November 2025 till 15 February 2026
Opening hours of the exhibitions: 16 May 2025– 15 February 2026, Wed-Sun, 2-6 pm, Global Heritage Lab in P26, Poststraße 26, 53111 Bonn