Exhibitions
Current shows and preview
Exhibition | Current
Celebrating the Lunar Year of the Horse
December 3, 2025 to January 31, 2027
The exhibition focuses the subject of the horse in East Asian art. The transregional presentation explores the horse as a pictorial motif and symbolic bearer of meaning as seen through the perspectives of the various art forms of China, Japan, and Korea. The displayed artworks will include paintings and ceramics, porcelains, bronze sculptures, lacquer objects, woodcut prints, and textiles. The exhibition primarily features objects from the museum's own collection, complemented by selected loans. It is held on occasion of the lunar year 2026, which according to the East Asian zodiac falls under the sign of the Horse. more
Exhibition | Current
Living Images
November 6, 2025 to spring 2027
Buddhist images were mostly created in a ritual context: sculptures or paintings of deities served as iconic images in temples or in a domestic context. Lacquer, metal or ceramic objects were used in ceremonial practices. The exhibition presents highlights such as the Japanese sculpture of Buddha Vairocana dating from the early 12th century, rubbings of important Chinese stone reliefs shown for the first time as well as the reconstruction of the consecration of a Korean hanging scroll. more
Exhibition | Current
„Le directeur est mort! Vive le directeur!“
August 5, 2025 to spring 2027
The anniversary presentation honors former director Roger Goepper (1925–2011), on occasion of his 100th birthday in 2025. Goepper, who led the MOK from 1966 to 1990, shaped the Euro-American discourse on the then hardly known field of East Asian Art History like few others in the 20th century. His spheres of impact were multi-faceted: as academic, curator, museum director, university professor, translator, intercultural ambassador. The 25 exhibits so stand as representatives for Goepper’s 25 years in office at the museum. The show likewise reflects the MOK as a Cologne exhibition space, whose interim period 1945–77 wrote a local city history with venues in the Overstolzenhaus, the Hahnentorburg, and the Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle. more
Exhibition | Current
East Asia in Motion
September 11, 2025 to spring 2027
Connected openly with the China, Korea, and Japan Galleries, a novel presentation space has been created for the visitors at the MOK. Conceived transregionally and on a rotating basis, it focuses new museum acquisitions as well as contemporary art. East Asia in Motion encourages encounter and dialogue between arts and crafts of various eras, regions, and genres, and likewise generations of different artists. The range of exhibits reflects not only the museum's collection interests but also the diverse forms of object acquisition through purchases, donations, and permanent loans. more
Exhibition | Current
Regarding the „Line“
February 8, 2025 to spring 2027
Writing and its artistic expression, calligraphy (kor. seoye), play a major role in Korean art. In order to illustrate the influence and importance of calligraphy in Korea, the exhibition contrasts works of contemporary Korean writing and traditional as well as modern painting with examples of ceramics and bronzes from the Goryeo period (918–1392), a peak of Korean culture. more
Exhibition | Current
99 Bowls – One Cosmos
April 23 to October 25, 2026
Within the foyer space of the Museum of East Asian Art, architecture, nature, and contemporary art converge. Ninety-nine handcrafted bowls by internationally renowned ceramicist Young-Jae Lee (*1951) enter into dynamic dialogue with their surroundings. more
Exhibition | Preview
Layers and Cuts
18 June 2026 to 31 January 2027
For thousands of years, the sap of the lacquer tree has been among the most precious materials in East Asia. It is used to coat, impregnate, and colour wooden objects and ceramics, producing surfaces of exceptional depth, lustre, and durability. This special exhibition shows around 60 important Chinese lacquer works from the 12th to the early 17th century held in a Cologne private collection, complemented by selected works belonging to the Museum of East Asian Art. more
Archive
Opening times
Tuesday to Sunday
11am – 5pm
Every first Thursday in the month
11am – 10pm (except Mai 1)
Closed Mondays; open on All Saints' Day
Museum is closed on December 24th, Christmas Day (25 Dec), New Year's Eve (31 Dec) and New Year's Day (1 Jan). Museum is opend on Easter Monday, Whit Monday, German Unity Day and December 26.
Admission prices
€ 9.50 / € 5.50
KölnTag on the first Thursday of the month (except public holidays): free admission to the Museum for all Cologne residents.
How to get here
Public transport: Tram routes 1 and 7 and bus route 142, alight at ‘Universitätsstrasse’
There is a car park at the museum
Barrier-free
The museum is barrier-free. Disabled toilet available.
more
Termine
Führung:
Vorstellungen und Praktiken des Buddhismus in Ostasien
Do, 21.05.2026, 15:00 Uhr
Event:
Utopie des Augenblicks — Koreanische Musik- und Tanztradition Utopie des Augenblicks und Prélude à l’après-midi au Japon
Fr, 22.05.2026, 18:40 Uhr
Führung:
Buddhismus in Ostasien: Vorstellungen und Praktiken
So, 24.05.2026, 12:00 Uhr
Workshop:
Boro und Slow Stiching —Textilupcycling auf Japanisch
Fr, 29.05.2026, 12:00 Uhr
Workshop:
Ikebana – Die japanische Kunst des Blumensteckens
Sa, 30.05.2026, 13:00 Uhr
Kalender
Museum für
Ostasiatische Kunst Köln
Universitätsstrasse 100
D 50674 Köln
Ticket office +49.221.221-28617
mok@stadt-koeln.de
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