Graz children’s museum puts analog art against digital world

Graz’s FRida & freD children’s museum will focus on art and creativity in two new exhibitions next year, aiming to draw children towards hands-on activities and away from digital offerings, ORF reported.

The exhibitions, “Du KUNST es” and “Mal mal!”, will open at the end of March. Museum director Jörg Ehtreiber said the museum had noticed that children were increasingly struggling to maintain their attention and engage with what was presented to them. The new programme is intended to create an “antipole” to digital content.

From March 20, 2027, visitors to the interactive exhibition “Mal mal!” will be able to try painting techniques and leave marks with their favourite colours on walls, floors and ceilings. The exhibition revives a revised version of a concept used in the 2019-20 season, when it attracted more than 42,000 children and accompanying visitors.

In “Du KUNST es”, children aged eight and older will be able to experiment with colours, materials and tools. The exhibition was developed with museum educators from the Universalmuseum Joanneum. The museum’s usual accompanying programme, including children’s theatre, will continue.

The museum expects to welcome 100,000 visitors by the end of this year, repeating a figure it had not anticipated when it opened in 2003, when it forecast about 40,000 visitors a year.

The KIMUS Kindermuseum Graz GmbH also operates the Graz fairytale railway, the Center of Science Activities and Salon Stolz, a museum for music and dance serving different generations in a senior centre. The fairytale railway had recorded about 46,000 visitors by the end of October. Salon Stolz had welcomed more than 10,600 visitors this year, already exceeding last year’s total. The Center of Science Activities had recorded 34,700 visitors, putting it on course for a possible new record.