Horizontal: Politics and Poetics from the Sickbed

There is nothing we associate more with being sick than lying in bed. This exhibition "Horizontal: Politics and Poetics from the Sickbed" explores how perception and our connection to the world change when the bed becomes the center of our lives.

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  Patientinnen bei der Liegekur, Lungenheilanstalt Falkenstein 1888

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  Davoser Liegestuhl, Germanisches Nationalmuseum

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  Benoît Piéron, Le Lit, 2011

Historical objects and archival materials, artworks, activist positions, and stories of lived experience enter into a conversation that stretches from the nineteenth century to the present. This allows a richly varied picture to emerge that shows the sickbed not only as a site of medical treatment but also a space in which fundamental issues of our time emerge: participation, care, solidarity, and the conditions of rest in an exhausted society. 

With numerous loans and artistic contributions by Angela Alves, Annabelle, Annett Gröschner, Aron Neubert, Bed Zine, Black Power Naps (Navild Acosta and Dr. Shadow F. Sosa), Gritli Faulhaber, Katharina Sabernig, Katharina Sophia Scharff, Käthe Kollwitz, Liz Orton, Wilhelm Müller, Nightstand Collective (Emma Jones), Paula Kempker, Poppy Nash, Rosy Lilienfeld, Benôit Piéron, and Philipp Veit.

Runtime: Fri, 29/05/2026 to Sun, 02/05/2027

Takes place here:

• Charité - Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum