It is one of Frankfurt’s newest museums, but there is an amazing collection behind its walls: The Museum for Comic Art (Museum f�r Komische Kunst) has been located in the historical Leinwandhaus between the cathedral and the Main river since October 2008. With more than 4,000 original caricatures by the legendary New Frankfurt School, it features the highest humour content of any museum in the world. The works of F. W. Berstein, Robert Gernhardt, Chlodwig Poth, Hans Traxler and F. K. Waechter, who made Frankfurt the “capital of satire” by founding the German satirical magazines PARDON and TITANIC, are shown in a permanent exhibition. The works of other well-known representatives of comic drawing, who could be called the descendants of the New Frankfurt School, such as Bernd Pfarr, Volker Reiche and Greser & Lenz are shown in temporary exhibitions.

Visitors to the museum will also be able to stroke the horns of the animal from this famous couplet (rhymed by F. W. Bernstein): A sculpture of the New Frankfurt School’s favourite animal adorns the building’s entrance. This piece of comic art was designed by Hans Traxler. Fans of comedy and people who enjoy walking can find weather-resistant artistic testimonial in Frankfurt’s Green Belt: the “Green Belt Animal” by Robert Gernhardt, the “ICH” memorial by Hans Traxler, the “Chlodwig Poth Installation”, the “Penalty Spot” by F. W. Bernstein, and no less than 6 pieces of tree art by F. K. Waechter.

F�r die Besch�ftigung mit aktueller Architektur und ihrer Geschichte gilt das Deutsche Architekturmuseum (DAM) europaweit als eines der besten Adressen. Als Haus-im-Haus hat der K�lner Architekt Oswald Mathias Ungers das DAM konzipiert und zugleich dessen gr��tes Exponat und ein Sinnbild der Baukunst geschaffen. Daf�r wurde die Doppelhausvilla von 1912 rigoros entkernt und von einer Glashalle umgeben. Eine transparente Architektur ist dabei entstanden. Streng gegliedert und konsequent wei� gehalten, lenkt nichts den Blick auf die Objekte ab. 24 Gro�modelle von der Steinzeit bis zur Gegenwart lassen die Besucher in der Dauerausstellung "Von der Urh�tte zum Wolkenkratzer" die Vielfalt der Bau- und Siedlungsgeschichte entdecken.

Den Schwerpunkt bilden mehrere gro�e Wechselausstellungen, die das DAM jedes Jahr Themen der modernen und zeitgen�ssischen Architektur im In- und Ausland widmet. Kongresse, Symposien, Fotoausstellungen und Vortr�ge erg�nzen das Programm. Mit einer Sammlung aus 180.000 Architekturpl�nen und Zeichnungen sowie 600 Modellen besitzt das DAM einen Schatz von Ausstellungsexponaten. Stiche, Skizzen, Zeichnungen und Ma�stabsmodelle bieten Stoff f�r Ausstellungen �ber Tendenzen und Perioden des 20. Jahrhunderts von Erich Mendelsohn bis Frank O. Gehry, von Mies van der Rohe bis zur Architektengruppe Archigram. Besuchern, die mehr �ber Architektur erfahren m�chten, steht die Pr�senz-Bibliothek mit rund 25.000 B�cher und Zeitschriften offen.

Living film history awaits visitors in the German Film Museum. Two permanent exhibitions are devoted to this most original of art forms of the 20th century. During an excursion through the pre-history of film, the focus is on optical illusion and tricks of movement. Models of the Laterna Magica, of raree shows, flip books and phenakistiscopes invite visitors to try them. A walk-in camera obscura is directed at the Frankfurt skyline and the Main. The replica of the Grand Caf� in Paris documents the first public film projection with the cinematographies of the Lumi�re brothers dated 28.12.1895.

This is then followed by the view behind the scenes of the dream factory of the 20th century. Replica studios and backgrounds, techniques, special effects and artistic aspects show the variety and development of film production. Visitors can re-enact a car chase in a model of a car or fly over Frankfurt on a carpet with the help of trick technology.

The special attraction of the museum is the cinema that gives films thematic contexts and if possible shows them in their original version. Its programme includes retrospectives and premieres, series of films and festivals. The museum presents several special exhibitions per year on aspects concerning film. The archives of the museum administer and document films, photos, cameras, posters, silent film music and collections and bequests of actors and directors. There is also an extensive library that is accessible to the public.

The phrase “the blind leading the blind” takes on a whole new meaning at one site in Frankfurt, Germany.

The place is the DialogMuseum, an interactive museum whose main attraction is Dialogue in the Dark, offering a labyrinth of rooms in total darkness in which visitors are guided by a blind person whom they never even see.

The experience is an eye-opener into what it is like to live in a pitch-black world where you must rely on your senses of touch and hearing to get by. People going through the maze get the same canes that blind people use to navigate everyday life and they are given a quick lesson in how to use them. Visitors are told not to use the lights on their watches.

“It’s our most powerful exhibit,” museum Chief Executive Officer Klara Kletza said of the maze. “You will see (what it’s like to be blind), but you won’t see.”

Each room in the maze mimics a different environment. One room is a park complete with a gravel-like path and the sounds of birds. Stepping into that room is a little bit of a surprise as you feel the ground beneath you and hear your footsteps as you find your way to the next room.

Another room simulates a traffic environment in which you have to wait for the traffic light sound indicating it is safe to cross and then step off of a curb. There is even a parked Mini Cooper for people to feel, the guide points out.

One area has a boat simulator in which you take a leisurely cruise down a European river, feeling a gentle breeze blowing as the guide explains what is happening. You hear cars zipping by on a bridge overhead, feel the boat rocking and hear the hum of its engine.

The next stop on the trek is an art museum in which you use your hands to get a feel for a sculpture’s shape. The guide explains each sculpture signifies traits such as curiosity and other qualities. There is also an area in which visitors take a seat and listen to music and a bar area where you can order a nonalcoholic drink and snack to eat in the dark.

The only problem on the life-as-a-blind-person experience is that people frequently bump into one another. But overall it is an enlightening experience.

Another section of the DialogMuseum that is intended to tap into people’s communication skills is appropriately named the Casino for Communication. It is filled with several team-building games in which people have to work together to come out on top.

In one game, teams of two talk their way through decisions as they grab objects from a covered cylinder. The goal is to get more matching items than your opponent before the timer rings.

A third area, called A Taste of Darkness, is open only on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Diners use their senses of taste and smell to sample foods they are served in the dark.

Anyone wishing to visit the Dialog Museum should make a reservation by telephone or through the museum’s German-language Web site.

Visual phenomena and optical illusions, anything that confuses the eye and the brain, are the speciality of EXPLORA, the Frankfurt ScienceCenter.

Here, joy in experimentation and individual initiative is encouraged. Visitors are sent on a journey to discover the riddles surrounding the illusion on their own, provided with special 3D glasses: Green has to go in front of the right eye, and then things get started, according to the alphabet and refreshingly chaotic.

When observed through 3D glasses, anaglyph images become deeper and more spacious, monsters from holograms come frighteningly close, and the rigid gaze of the medusa pursues the viewer from a hollow mask. Once they have been set in motion, optical illusions create astonishment with unexpected effects and colours, and prism grids, better known as “lenticular images”, are just fun.

Each component of the diverse collection invites exploration, in-depth study, and observation from different angles.

EXPLORA lets you look at them and be amazed - until the moment of realisation. Scientific models and exhibitions show how both simple and extremely tricky phenomena function. Groups of visitors or school classes can also learn about this in depth from museum founder Gerhard Stief during a guided tour.

With a great love of detail, the photo designer has furnished his museum in the old air-raid shelter on Gauburgplatz in Frankfurt’s Nordend district.

3D phenomena have interested him since childhood, and since then he has been bringing together curious and fascinating aspects from the world of sound and vision. From this emerged one of the world’s largest collections of 3D art and stereo images.

EXPLORA is constantly expanding, because Stief continues to search through specialist shops, galleries and Internet platforms for new exhibits. This ensures a fascinating visit every time, for children and adults alike.

The Frankfurter Kunstverein is an art centre. Its main goal is to present the viewer with coherently researched exhibitions that are embedded in the present. Our work is mainly based in the development and production of new art works and projects. Hence our aim is to encourage a critical discussion around “contemporary art production” and we stress the importance of regularly organizing artist talks, debates and lectures in order to create an access point to art and its reasons.

The Frankfurter Kunstverein has an eminent social dimension: we want to promote curiosity towards the future and to place a new confidence in contemporary art production. Our commitment is to elucidate the importance of the role of artists in our society: as producers, thinkers, mediators and the ones who still dare to experiment.

Guided tours, lectures, film programmes, symposia, conferences and member trips are some of the means by which Frankfurter Kunstverein helps members and visitors to come to grips with this exciting new terrain and to open up critical dialogue with current exhibitions and contemporary art