Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg

Description

The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg was opened in 1994 with a retrospective of the French artist Fernand Léger. Since then over 150 exhibitions of modern and contemporary art have been presented. The Kunstmuseum sees itself as an open, vital and dynamic place. In its exhibitions it deals with globally relevant topics and presents important artistic positions. As a place of identification in the city and the region as well as a beacon of Lower Saxony´s cultural landscape with national and international appeal, it relies on digital, interactive communication and a wide range of mediation services. The collection of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg focuses on internationally relevant positions since 1968.

The founding director of the house was Gijs van Tuyl, who held office until 2004. He was followed by Markus Brüderlin from 2006 to 2014 and Ralf Beil from 2015 to 2018, and since 2019 Andreas Beitin has been director of the house. The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is a private museum and is supported by the Holler Foundation, among others.

Over the past 25 years, the museum has shown large exhibitions of works from the field of classical modernism, for example by Max Beckmann, Alberto Giacometti and Oskar Kokoschka, and much-acclaimed overview shows such as Full House, German Open, The Italian Metamorphosis 1943 - 1968, Blast to Freeze and Facing India. Monographic exhibitions of Carl Andre, Andy Warhol, Luc Tuymans, Olafur Eliasson, Frank Stella, James Turrell, Imi Knoebel, Robert Lebeck and others complete the spectrum. Large-scale historical and thematic exhibitions are also on show, including ArchiSculpture, Japan and the West, Interior/Exterior, The Art of Deceleration, Art & Textiles, Never Ending Stories, Now Is The Time and On Everyone’s Lips. From Pieter Bruegel to Cindy Sherman. In addition, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg has presented artists such as Douglas Gordon, Neo Rauch, Philip Taaffe Robin Rhode and Leandro Erlich  in comprehensive mid-career retrospectives. Particularly in its major exhibition projects, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg has repeatedly created unique architectures with its mobile partition wall system in the 16-metre high exhibition hall, enabling the works of art to be presented in the best possible way.

Another central task of the Kunstmuseum is to make the high-calibre collection, which focuses on contemporary art, accessible to the public by integrating it into larger cultural contexts. Starting with key works of Minimal Art, Conceptual Art and Arte Povera, a solid foundation has been laid for the extensive collection. Many younger positions (e.g. Sam Taylor-Johnson, Firelei Báez, Prajakta Potnis or Mariana Vassileva) with new media join in, representing important aspects of contemporary art. The collection currently comprises over 900 works or groups of works.

As a place of cultural education for all - from visitors to educational institutions for children and young people to training courses for teachers and other multipliers - the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg wants to be a place where people from the most diverse social backgrounds meet. Discover the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg with your family and friends, where young and old visitors alike can be creative. In addition to the wide range of art on offer, the well-stocked museum shop, the Café Kunstpause and the popular Museum Restaurant Oberdeck offer both attractive and culinary events.

photo: Marek Kruszewski