In der Woche vom 18.-22. August 2025 leitete MUSMIG das Seminar „Let’s Build a Global Museum of Migration. Documenting – Telling – Exhibiting Migration Histories“ im Rahmen der Seminar Week beim Europäischen Forum Alpbach.

Gemeinsam mit Teilnehmenden aus Österreich und vielen anderen Regionen der Welt erörterten wir Fragen rund um die Möglichkeiten und Notwendigkeiten der Musealisierung von Migration. Die Seminarteilnehmenden konzipierten Objekte, die migrantische Erfahrungen entweder dokumentierten oder diese auf einer Metaebene präsentieren und schufen so die Ausstellung „Celebrate Migration“, die im Congress Center Alpbach vom 23.-29. August 2025 zu sehen ist. Die Ausstellung wurde von den MUSMIG-Kollektivmitgliedern Elena Messner, Savo Ristić und Anna Seidel kuratiert.

Folgende Objekte sind Teil der Ausstellung:

THE STORY OF YOUR JOURNEY

Date of Creation: 21/08/2025

Creators: Angela Mariottiz, Asma Ali, Csenge Pap, Dennis Kamau Muniu, Johannes Steiner, Julian Seidenbusch, Priscilla Tomaz, Yu Dong, Zsófia Berta, Delila Bajric

Description: What is your story? We invite you to reflect on your experiences away from home(?) – the ones you have lived and the ones you haven’t lived. To consider what they are shaped by, compare and contrast your experiences to the ones of others.

LETTERS TO AND FROM HOME

Date of Creation: 22/08/2025

Creator: Ayşe Sezin Yanartaş

Description: This project shows a selection of letters between immigrants and their loved ones. The personal details have been intentionally hidden both for privacy and so that the emotions inside the letters can stand out more clearly. What remains are words of love, longing, and hope that many people can relate to. Visitors are also invited to leave their own notes to distant loved ones, adding their voices to this shared experience. Together, these letters and notes remind us that migration is not only a social issue but also a deeply human experience.

00000

Date of Creation: 21/08/2025

Creator: Gentrit Kastrati

Description: Five postcards sent by war refugees, addressed to their home.
Homes that no longer exist.
Homes marked by the postal code 00000.

SOURCES: Photos by Emad El Byed, Mohammed Ibrahim, Vony Razom, Mahmoud Sulaiman &  Mohammed Ibrahim (all on Unsplash)

COMIGRATION

Date of Creation: 22/08/2025

Creators: Leonie Strasser, Christophe-Mokili Andunda, Huma Ullah

Description: Comigration is our ironic take on current news articles concerning the topic of migration. Be it online, an actual newspaper, or on the TV-reports about migrants and/or refugees are often noticeably biased. We can only shake our heads or let out a disturbed laugh, when we look at the obvious prejudices. We realized, that we need to put it into an even bigger extreme to then make the audience realize, how baseless these articles can be. The satire article is based on Andunda’s father’s immigration story arriving into Vienna.

MELODY OF MIGRATION

Date of Creation: 22/08/2025

Creator: Venera Gashi

Description: Migration is not only a movement of bodies, but of voices, memories, and emotions. Across generations, communities have turned to song to articulate the hardship of leaving home, the longing for what is lost, and the hope for new beginnings. These songs are more than cultural artifacts—they are living testimonies of resilience, identity, and belonging.

Exhibiting music about migration allows us to encounter history through sound: to hear the sorrow of separation, the irony of exile, and the dreams carried across borders. Whether rooted in traditional folk forms or reimagined through contemporary styles, these works bridge past and present, reminding us that the experience of migration is both timeless and urgently relevant today. This collection of three Albanian songs in different timelines shine a light on the yearning throughout the history of the Albanian nation.

A huge THANK YOU to the seminar participants of the EFA seminar „Let’s Build a Global Museum of Migration. Documenting – Telling – Exhibiting Migration Histories“ and the creators of these objects: ASMA ALI, CHRISTOPHE-MOKILI ANDUNDA, SERGEY BADALYAN, DELILA BAJRIC, ZSÓFIA BERTA, YU DONG, VENERA GASHI, VICTORIA HERBERSTEIN, DENNIS KAMAU MUNIU, GENTRIT KASTRATI, ANGELA MARIOTTIZ, CSENGE PAP, JULIAN SEIDENBUSCH, JOHANNES STEINER, LEONIE STRASSER, HUMA ULLAH, SEZIN YANARTAS, PRISCILLA TOMAZ

Special thanks to our seminar assistant for supporting us and the participants in all organizational matters: PRISCILLA TOMAZ

And thank you to the European Forum Alpbach for inviting us to chair this seminar and the space and material to create this exhibition.