25 years of poking fun at carnival

Love it or hate it, carnival is just around the corner, you're either planning your costume, or planning your escape.  The street carnival is accessible for everyone and is generally a whole lot of fun - a time when the serious German attitude is replaced with fun and frivolity for five long days. But you might not have experienced the other side of carnival - the committees, the Sitzungen and the many get-togethers with the prince, the farmer and the virgin, the jokes and the "organised fun". A new exhibition at the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, celebrates the other side of carnival and the anti-carnival that has enjoyed 25 years of poking fun at the "hardcore Karnivalists". In the early 1980s the ritualistic pomposity and rigid routine of the Rheinish carnival met with increasing indifference, above all among young people who turned away from these traditional carnival celebrations. As a reaction, a group of university students experimented with an alternative type of celebration and brought the “Stunksitzung” into being in 1984 under the motto “Karneval instandbesetzt”. “Stunksitzung” (literally: stink meeting) is a pun of the traditional “Prunksitzung” where "humorous" speeches are made. This combination of political commentary and anarchy turned out to be a great success and has since added a political revue element to the traditional carnival. Criticism of political and cultural events in Cologne, side-swipes at the education sector and the Catholic church, satirical remarks about the traditional Rheinish carnival, the parade and the Dreigestirn, are all typical components of the alternative carnival and have ensured its success for the last  25 years.

27 Feb - 11 April
Kölnisches Stadtmuseum
Zeughausstrasse 1-3, 50667 Cologne
T: 0221-221 25789
www.museenkoeln.de