25 October 2025 through 19 April 2026
Opens on Friday, 24 October, 7 p.m.

Whether gold-plated ornamental bowls, a shoe-shaped drinking cup or a “Roman pocket knife” – the exhibition titled “Dinner Is Served” opens up exciting perspectives on dining cultures around the world. It explores the rich diversity and variability of foods and their symbolic, practical and social importance in different cultures and epochs. The focus is on the particularities of dining customs that are exemplified by historical and contemporary objects and shown in a both informative and delectable context.

Europe’s aristocratic families used to indulge in luxurious banquets with exquisite table accessories to demonstrate their power and extravagantly while away their time. Well into the 18th century, it was not unusual for people to bring their own cutlery – quite often peculiar, valuable one-of-a-kind pieces. In the Baroque period, matching dinner services came into vogue and finally, in the wake of industrialisation, became mass-produced commodities. Trading with faraway countries, conquests and migration processes augmented people’s menus with exotic fruit and spices, and contributed to a change in customs and traditions. Juxtaposing ethnographic treasures and exquisite historical examples of the goldsmith’s art with imaginatively designed contemporary dining utensils and everyday objects – plus a »Little table, set yourself« as a multimedia installation, made possible by the Werner Wild Stiftung Pforzheim –, the exhibition is themed around dining cultures around the globe. After all, the way to culture is also through the stomach.

The exhibition has been devised and curated by Katja Poljanac under the overall supervision of Friederike Zobel, the Museum’s director. As co-curators, Isabel Schmidt-Mappes and the cultural anthropologist Dr. Andreas Volz were involved as well.

Lenders
Archäologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg, Badisches Landesmuseum, Bröhan Museum, Bundesmobilienverwaltung/Silberkammer der Hofburg Wien, Deutsches Klingenmuseum Solingen, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, The Fitzwilliam Museum/University of Cambridge, Galerie Meyer, Paris, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst, GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig, Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Jüdisches Museum Berlin, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien/Kunstkammer, Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Museum Fünf Kontinente München, Museum für Asiatische Kunst Berlin, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Köln, Museum Natur und Mensch – Freiburg Museen, Museum der Universität Tübingen, Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, München, Wereldmuseum
Stadtarchiv Pforzheim, Landesforstverwaltung Baden-Württemberg/Forstdirektion Freiburg
Berufskolleg der Goldschmiedeschule mit Uhrmacherschule Pforzheim, Schwarzmüllerglas, David Bielander/Galerie SO London, Elisabeth Heine, Yasukata Okamura, Katja Sondermann, private lenders

Publication 
Friederike Zobel, Katja Poljanac, Isabel Schmidt-Mappes (Eds.): Aufgetischt – eine kulinarische Weltreise. Zur Kultur des Essens und Trinkens. Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart. 256 pages, 23 × 29 cm, ca. 200 ills., German, ISBN 978-3-89790-746-1, € 38.
With contributions by Isabell Immel, Schoole Mostafawy, Katja Poljanac, Paulus Rainer, Isabel Schmidt-Mappes, Harald Stahl, Daniel Suebsman, Sabine Tiedtke, Andreas Volz, Heike Zech, Friederike Zobel
Made possible by the Werner Wild Stiftung Pforzheim 

Admission € 10, reduced price € 8.50, combined (permanent & special exhibition) ticket € 12.50