TAM Museum visionaries —
Müge Avar
& Gülşah Stapel

“We believe museums occupy a uniquely powerful place in society. They influence how we see ourselves, our histories, and our shared future”

Gülşah Stapel is a cultural historian specializing in migration histories between Turkey and Germany and questions of cultural memory. Her work across academia and museums connects historical narratives with contemporary debates on identity and belonging. She initiated the founding of a new institution in Germany dedicated to these intertwined histories. As Vice President of ICOM Germany, she advocates for strengthening the civic role of museums and is driven by a passion for dialogue, new perspectives on society, and meaningful connections.

Müge Avar is a scenographer and interior architect who has realized museums, exhibitions, and cultural projects in Germany and internationally. She specializes in immersive spatial storytelling that brings history to life. Her work combines strong conceptual thinking with sensitivity to atmosphere, material, and audience experience. She aims to contribute to a museum of the future—one that engages audiences through bold, immersive, and memorable experiences rather than traditional displays.

TAM Museum is a new civic museum initiative dedicated to exploring the entangled histories between Turkey and the German-speaking world. It challenges single narratives and creates space for multiple perspectives, shared memory, and dialogue.

Because museums shape how societies understand themselves, TAM holds the potential to influence how belonging is imagined. By curating encounters, stories, and complex histories, it contributes to envisioning a tolerant, culturally plural, and yet deeply connected society — one that sees diversity not as division, but as shared reality.

You can meet Gülşah and Müge Monday to Wednesday at the TAM Lab (Eisenacher Straße 57) or at one of their upcoming events.

TAM Forum #4
23 March | 18:00–19:30
TAM Lab, Eisenacher Straße 57, 10823
Berlin | English
Nazan Maksudyan on her research on the Dağlı Brothers, who arrived in Berlin in 1917 together with 300 other Ottoman orphan boys.

TAM Forum #5
27 April | 18:00–19:00
Online | German
Ela Gezen: “West Berlin as Atelier: Artists of Turkish Descent in Migration.”

https://tam-museum.org/histories

Funding

Through the venturenauten community, TAM Museum received:

Valuable network connections
Financial assistance that has helped to conduct team meetings across geographical borders and build-up community inspite of missing shared office spaces.
Mentorship from Franka Ismer in refining and articulating the museum’s aspirations and vision.

Needed Support

Through the venturenauten community, TAM Museum received:

Strategic support to further development and professionalisation of TAM Museum’s business plan, including the refinement of spatial planning, operational structures, and long-term financial projections.
Investment in the development and maintenance of an innovative digital platform that establishes the “Digital TAM Museum” — a dynamic and accessible online space integrating collections, oral histories, research, and public projects. This step is essential for visibility, accessibility, and long-term audience engagement (approx. €82,000).
Seed funding to establish a “TAM Museum Lab” as a hybrid workspace for offices, exhibitions, and public programming. Securing and operating this space for an initial three-year period will provide structural stability and enable continuous public presence (approx. €108,000).

Next Steps

Since its founding, TAM Museum has begun building the core infrastructure of a complex cultural institution, safeguarding objects and data while generating new research and archival materials.

Currently in its second proof-of-concept phase, the museum is developing exhibitions, educational and outreach programs, public events, and expanding its archive. Although still volunteer-led, TAM is already creating measurable impact. It recently secured its first funding from the Berlin Senate to establish an oral history infrastructure and publish the first 20 interviews in 2026/27.

Since becoming a legal entity, TAM Museum has collaborated with and received support from institutions such as the Agentur für internationale Museumskooperationen (AiM), Munich City Museum, the Museum for Islamic Art Berlin, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the UN Minority Forum, Morrison Foerster, ESCRIBA, the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.

While this network reflects strong institutional trust, the central challenge is long-term sustainability. TAM now seeks strategic investment to transition from a volunteer-led initiative to a professionally anchored, financially resilient institution with diversified funding and sustainable income strategies.

The next strategic milestone is securing the resources to acquire a permanent property. Establishing a physical home is essential for institutional independence, stability, and the long-term safeguarding of its collections, archives, and public programs.