Kolumba, the art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne

Kolumba, the art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne, forms a triptych of location, architecture, and collection in the heart of the city.

No distinction is made between permanent and temporary exhibitions: every year on 15 September an exhibition change takes place, in which selected objects from the museum's own collection are presented in a new context as a temporary museum.

The architecture offers a glimpse into Cologne's two-thousand-year history. The building includes the ruins of the church of St. Kolumba, which was destroyed during World War II, as well as the chapel Madonna in the Ruins , which functions as an independent place of worship.

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"Have you ever fallen in love with a clock?"

September 19, 2026 – August 1, 2027

On Norms and Deviations

It’s possible that one day you’ll wake up and find you don’t have the strength to get out of bed. Maybe you’ll “only” be able to move your right arm and will be forced to train your left hand. But it’s also possible that you’ll fall in love. You step outside of everyday reality, and familiar places appear in a new light. These thought experiments make it clear that we often only begin to reflect on norms and normality when they no longer function. The norms discussed in this exhibition are man-made—they are collective agreements. Formal norms are enshrined in laws or regulations and, in the best-case scenario, are democratically negotiated and communicated. Social norms, on the other hand, arise from the unwritten rules of social coexistence. They take shape from customs, traditions, and social structures; are passed down (e.g., through upbringing and later at school); and are carried out and maintained through everyday actions. Nevertheless, they are subject to constant change. 

The artists in this exhibition explore how norms arise and function. They examine and challenge them. Above all, however, they create works that disrupt our established ways of thinking and acting and can be understood as deviations or alternatives—just like the clock by Finnegan Shannon, to whom we owe the title of our exhibition.