Talk | "I see the textile museum as a place for social engangement."

The conversation focuses on exhibition and programme planning at the Textile and Industrial Museum (TIM) in Augsburg, as well as the museum’s impressive social objectives. Since 2009, Dr Karl B. Murr, the founding director of the Textile and Industrial Museum in Augsburg (TIM), has been advocating the explicit inclusion of works or exhibitions on current topics within the museum’s collection. This commitment is being realised once again with the planned exhibition of the large-scale sculpture Between Earth and Sky, 2025 by the leading Nigerian-American environmental artist and professor Nnenna Okore, which is on loan from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London and is scheduled for May this year. Okore is passionate about fostering dialogue on ecological issues. Her monumental glass and textile installations shape global discussions in contemporary art.

Since 2009, Dr. Karl B. Murr, as Director of the State Textile and Industrial Museum in Augsburg (tim), has been committed to integrating current topics into the museum’s collection. With the exhibition of *Between Earth and Sky*, a work by the Nigerian-American artist and professor Nnenna Okore, this commitment is once again being realized.

Dr. Karl B. Murr, born in 1966, studied modern, Bavarian, and medieval history, philosophy, and ethnology at the University of Philosophy (Munich), Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich), Oxford University (St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, England), the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, and Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA). In 2005, he received his doctorate from LMU Munich with the dissertation “Das Mittelalter in der Moderne. Die öffentliche Erinnerung an Kaiser Ludwig den Bayern im Königreich Bayern”. From 2005 to 2009, he was employed as a research assistant at the State Textile and Industrial Museum in Augsburg, which he has directed since 2009.

Since 2012, he has been a member of the European Museum Academy’s (EMA) Pool of Experts; he has served on the Executive Board since 2015 and has been its Chair since 2019.

The conversation builds a bridge to the current solo exhibition:

NNENNA OKORE THE WAY THINGS ARE UNTIL 25. APRIL 2026

Bildcredit:

The Munich Speech® is an exclusive, international, non-profit series of events, to discuss cutting-edge art- and culture-topics. The name Munich Speech® derives from the celebrated series „Speeking about your own country: Germany“ at the Kammerspiele Munich in 1985 with Joseph Beuys.

Produced and presented since 2014 by Dietlinde Behncke (cultural manager and journalist, formerly at ZDF headquarter Berlin), the focus lies on outstanding positions/ personalities, who change, take action for or develop visions for Munich or change an institution in the world from Munich and who receive direct and immediate attention through the Munich Speech®. Due to the corona pandemic, there were also Munich Speech® digital live streams in 2020-2022.

The events took place three to four times a year until 2022 in André and Dietlinde Behncke's private apartment. The events are currently taking place at behncke gallery, since the gallery was founded on January 31, 2023.
Previous guests in 2017 included Dr. Roger Diederen (Director Kunsthalle Munich) with the FAUST-FESTIVAL MUNICH, 2018 Dr. Angelika Nollert (Director Die Neue Sammlung - The Design Museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne), 2019 2022 Serge Dorny (Bavarian State Opera Director), 2022 Dr. Eva Kraus (Director Bundeskunsthalle Bonn) "No future without transformation?" or Andrea Lissoni (in 2021 and 2022) - Artistic Director Haus der Kunst and Sarah Haugeneder (Boardmember Various Others), Prof. Bernhard Maaz (Director General of the Bavarian State Painting Collections) on the subject of "Art deals with the essence of life" or 2024 Dr. Cathrin Klingsöhr-Leroy (Director Franz Marc Museum, Kochel).