ZOOM brings all the senses into play
The ZOOM Children's Museum is a private association that enables children and young people to engage with various topics from art, science and culture in a playful way and with all their senses. The Children's Museum creates spaces where children can try out, discover and explore new things in a relaxed atmosphere and at their own pace.
Exhibitions, play stations, objects, artistic installations and workshops designed according to the hands-on principle arouse children's curiosity and stimulate their creativity. Through the encounter with art, the dialogue with artists and cultural mediators and the joyful, open-ended activities with others, individual abilities and interests are recognised and further developed.
Children and young people in focus
At ZOOM Children’s Museum, children and young people are recognised and taken seriously as autonomous personalities. Their experience and their own pace, their skills, rights, perceptions and ideas are valued. The concerns and interests of children and young people are taken into account when designing the programme, with difficult or controversial subjects not being ignored.
Open and permeable institution
The central task of the ZOOM Children's Museum is to be there for children and young people and their adult companions, no matter where they come from, where they live or what native language they speak. Ease of access and openness in the offerings are important aspects of the orientation toward visitors. All children and young people are welcome in the programmes, which are tailored to a variety of age groups, whether alone, with accompanying adults, with friends, with the whole family, or with pre-school, school or after-school care groups. Free entry for educational institutions and Kulturpass-holders to the hands-on exhibitions and, in some cases, free supplementary offers, enable socially disadvantaged families to take part in the art and culture programmes offered by ZOOM Children’s Museum. For children with disabilities there are flexible solutions adapted to individual needs in all areas.
Mobile programmes complement and expand the museum activities and lead out into the city, directly to the children and young people.
In motion and in dialogue
ZOOM Children’s Museum sees itself as a learning, flexible organisation which responds to the changing needs of society and takes account of contemporary concerns. Children and young people bring with them skills that enrich, change and shape ZOOM
Children’s Museum. Encounters between visitors and museum staff are characterised by reciprocal exchange. Diversity and inclusion are fundamental concerns of the museum, and these should also be optimally reflected in the staff and visitor profile. Variety of programmes and methods
The rooms for play, adventure, exhibitions and workshops, and the associated programmes, are designed and developed by artists, architects, designers, educators, scientists and facilitators. This enables visitors in a range of ages and stages of development to enjoy aesthetic experiences with all of their senses. The variety of presentation methods contributes significantly to children developing their own creativity and acquiring knowledge through their own actions, questions and play. Cultural educators accompany and support the visitors and create an atmosphere that enables free experimentation and process-oriented work. Different offers for different audiences
There are a variety of areas within ZOOM Children’s Museum: the play and adventure area ZOOM Ocean for children from eight months to six years; the interactive ZOOM Hands-on Exhibition for children from six to twelve years; the creative workshop ZOOM Atelier for children from three to twelve years; and the ZOOM Animation Studio media laboratory for children and young people from eight to fourteen years. As an outreach offer outside the museum, the ZOOM Mobile complements the programme with workshops for children aged four and up. Additional events such as the children's lectures as part of ZOOM Science and online offers provide further opportunities to reach geographically independent children, young people and families. Innovative collection of digital works
The ZOOM Children’s Museum Collection is unique: unlike in other museums, the visitors produce the items in the collection themselves. Since 2001, the Children’s Museum has dedicated itself to building up this participatory and exclusively digital collection of animated films and sounds produced by children and young people in workshops at the Animation Studio. The digital exhibits are archived according to museological criteria, and are readable and publicly available in accordance with the applicable copyright laws. ZOOM as a centre of excellence
ZOOM Children’s Museum develops its profile on the basis of the diverse skills of its staff and the close cooperation with artists, scientists and educators. The resulting mediation expertise is disseminated externally in consulting and training and is and is part of the broader discourse on children's and youth culture. Through self-evaluation and accompanying research, ZOOM regularly reflects on its status quo and reviews its own procedures.
