25 September 2025 – 4 January 2026
Jazzklub was a three-month hybrid exhibition, concert and event project on the theme of “jazz” at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt am Main. At the center of a larger exhibition parcours, a pop-up jazz club was created, which became the venue for more than 60 concerts, events and workshops in cooperation with Jazz Montez, an organizer that has very successfully been organizing jazz concerts at various locations in Frankfurt am Main since 2016.
Today, jazz can be understood as a diverse field of music that has fuelled generations with discussions on playing techniques, styles and social relevance. Against this background, the project was dedicated to both historical contexts and current issues. The history of the “Jazz City Frankfurt”, from the successes of African-American bands and musicians at the beginning of the 20th century, to the establishment of the jazz class at Dr Hoch’s Conservatory in 1928, the influence of US jazz ensembles after 1945, to independent style developments such as those of Albert Mangelsdorff, formed a reference for today’s discussions on questions of origin, development and future perspectives for this music.
The exhibition parcour encouraged visitors to track down historical contexts and reflect on them with today’s perspectives on the significance, diversity and development of jazz. The concert and event program incorporated, supplemented and commented on themes from the exhibition. At the same time, discourses on musical heritage, cultural potential and contemporary practices in jazz were made accessible.
The exhibtion parcour presented musicological and journalistic contributions, perspectives from film, photography and educational practice, musical examples and interactive stations. A central aspect was the presentation of the activities of committed players, clubs, associations, institutes, filmmakers and musicians from Frankfurt. Jazz was showcased here as a socio-cultural practise and the connection between communal, subjective and freely creative processes from which it emerges, equally became visible.
A cooperation between the Museum Angewandte Kunst and Jazz Montez.
Curator exhibition: David Beikirch
Curator concert series: Lorenzo Dolce
Assitant concert series: Julia Rau
Curators Jazz Is My Democracy: Lorenzo Dolce and others
