What was The New Frankfurt? / Yes, we care. The New Frankfurt and the Question of the Common Good

In 2025, The New Frankfurt is celebrating its 100th birthday. The Museum Angewandte Kunst is marking the occasion by hosting numerous exhibitions and events dedicated to the modernist design movement of the 1920s. The wide range of topics is also informing the major cultural project World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026, questioning the present and future of designing and shaping our society.

Talk of the modernist design movement in Frankfurt often references the political, social and creative upheaval in the city after the First World War. This New Frankfurt not only included an urban and housing construction program, but also shaped a more universal approach regarding product, fashion, interior, industrial and communication design. It aimed to address all areas of human life using new forms and shaping a new urban society in connection with accelerated industrialization. 

What was The New Frankfurt? Key Questions about the 1920s Urban Planning Program
May 10, 2025–January 11, 2026

As the core exhibition and initial launch pad at the Museum Angewandte Kunst during 2025 and 2026, the exhibition will raise the following questions: What exactly was The New Frankfurt? Who were the protagonists? What ideas and influences formed the basis of this modernist design movement? What were its key themes, and how did these effectively transform society? Why does the basis for a relationship between democracy and design lie here?

The exhibition consists of a multimedia room in which significant objects from the time of The New Frankfurt, texts and original quotations, images, films, infographics and photographs come together to tell the story of what The New Frankfurt was and will continue to be in a concise form. The questions formulated in this initial room pave the way for more in-depth exhibitions in other parts of the museum, with partner institutions and in the Rhine-Main region; and ultimately extend into the program of World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026, thus providing an updated perspective on The New Frankfurt and other national and international design movements that have always led to changes in societal models.

Yes, we care. The New Frankfurt and the Question of the Common Good
May 10, 2025–January 11, 2026

The exhibition Yes, we care. The Neue Frankfurt and the Question of the Common Good is dedicated to the topic of care for the common good and welfare – its institutions and associations, its people, concepts and initiatives during the 1920s. At the same time, it draws a connection to today’s care crisis, which is not only evident in the debate about the unequal distribution of care work between men and women, but also in access to affordable housing and the provision of care services in urban districts.

Care work yesterday and today: What institutions, initiatives and concepts relating to education, the household, social welfare and health existed 100 years ago and what impact did they have on people’s everyday lives? Do the ideas and concepts of The New Frankfurt offer suggestions for solving the current crisis in the care and nursing professions? Can they be role models for effective countermeasures in times of political polarization, the lack of affordable housing and the manifestation of poverty? With the exhibition Yes, we care, we  want to debate the value of a social urban society once again and provide positive impetus for the present and the future. The exhibition presents objects, texts, photographs, film and audio contributions from the areas of education, household, social affairs and health from the 1920s and links the phenomena with current experiences and questions about our global future.

Curator: Grit Weber  
Director: Matthias Wagner K  
Press contact: Natali-Lina Pitzer, T +49 (0)69 212 75339​.