The 2025 General Conference of WORKLAB – International Association of Labour Museums – will take place in Hamburg, hosted by the Museum der Arbeit from 5–7 November. This year’s theme is:

Workers’ Culture

In an era of growing social and economic inequality, the cultural heritage of working people remains a powerful and necessary part of our collective memory. Workers’ culture—from songs and rituals to union banners, tools, and everyday practices—offers insight into identity, solidarity, resistance, and creativity. It reflects how working people have made meaning in their lives across different historical periods, geographies, and political contexts.

The conference invites museum professionals, curators, researchers, archivists, and cultural practitioners to explore how museums and heritage institutions collect, preserve, interpret, and communicate workers’ culture—and how they can play a role in empowering communities and advancing museum practice today.

Call for Papers

We welcome proposals for papers and workshops on topics including, but not limited to:

• Interpreting workers’ material culture: banners, badges, tools, union ephemera, and publications
• Preserving immaterial culture: songs, stories, and oral histories
• Artist–worker–community collaborations
• Cultural expressions shaped by gendered experiences and LGBTQ workers
• Labour migration and transnational narratives
• Museums as spaces for democratic engagement and cultural memory

Submissions from museum professionals, researchers, activists, artists, and interdisciplinary contributors are encouraged.

Deadline for proposals: Monday, 25 August 2025
Send your proposal to Dr. Sandra Schürmann, sandra.schuermann@mda.shmh.de.

Join us in Hamburg

The WORKLAB 2025 conference will bring together members of our network and guests from across Europe and beyond for two days of presentations, workshops, and discussion. Participants will also have the opportunity to explore the Museum der Arbeit and connect with colleagues working at the intersection of labour history, museology, and cultural practice.

Registration opens in September 2025.