How free are we to decide for ourselves who we want to be? What role models do we encounter in everyday life? And how can art make social ideas visible and change them?

The participants in the current DOMINO project immerse themselves in the magical visual worlds of Leonor Fini. With around 100 paintings, drawings, photographs and objects, the exhibition presents an artist who was reluctant to conform to society’s expectations. Fini blended dream and reality, myth and fantasy into mysterious scenes. Her works feature self-assured women, androgynous figures and fantastical hybrid creatures. They challenge traditional notions of femininity and masculinity and open up new perspectives on strength, self-determination and freedom. Leonor Fini also presented herself in ever-changing ways – in numerous self-portraits and staged scenes with masks and costumes of her own design.

The project begins with a visit to the exhibition. Afterwards, the young people create their own works on themes from the exhibition at their respective institutions. They are encouraged to question familiar role models, to explore themes such as identity and belonging, and to express their own visions artistically. They are accompanied throughout by art educators from the SCHIRN team. All materials for the practical work are provided. The project concludes with a presentation of the resulting works at the SCHIRN.

What is a “superform”? How do faith and pop culture shape the way we live? Which paths do we follow—and where might they lead us? Inspired by the exhibition by THOMAS BAYRLE in the SCHIRN, five youth groups engaged with these questions, created their own compelling works and experimented across a range of materials and techniques. They explored themes such as individuality within the collective and the impact of consumption and technology on everyday life.

The final presentation of the project took place on April 29, 2026 at the SCHIRN.

With 10 groups and 133 participants, the largest SCHIRN DOMINO project to date took place in autumn 2025 alongside the exhibition STEPHANIE COMILANG. COORDINATES AT DAWN.

The project began for the young people at the end of October with an exhibition visit. In November, they then created their own works in 3 workshop projects. The participants crafted monarch butterfly sculptures with ribbons woven into the wings bearing wishes for the future. Inspired by Comilang’s monumental ocean shots, they produced ocean dioramas – incorporating personal symbols for their past, present, and future into the waves. Using storytelling strategies, the young people developed audio recordings inspired by Comilang’s poetic narrative elements. Text elements in the participants’ native languages highlight linguistic diversity and their pluricultural identities. The groups were supported throughout the project by freelance art mediators. The finale was a pop-up presentation of the resulting works at SCHIRN.

In January and February 2025, over 60 young people from Frankfurt intensive classes and youth centers discovered the political art of HANS HAACKE at SCHIRN. Inspired to engage with themes like empowerment, power, protest culture, and institutional critique, they drew on current debates, experimented with materials and media, and created their own works with political messages – including Conversation Cubes, card games with democratically decided rules, and anti-monuments. The finale was a pop-up exhibition of their works at SCHIRN.

Inspired by the exhibition THE CULTURE. HIP-HOP AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY, five youth groups engaged with themes such as self-presentation and self-staging, identity, power mechanisms, discrimination, and empowerment in spring 2024.

In winter 2023, five youth groups explored the diverse artistic world of LYONEL FEININGER.