Museum of Contemporary Art (Siegen)

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Museum of Contemporary Art: tower / staircase of the old building (left) and new building with side wing (right), in June 2014

The Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen is a museum for contemporary art from painting to photography and video art to space and time-related installations . There are two main focuses of the collection, the Lambrecht-Schadeberg Collection / Rubens Prize Winner of the City of Siegen and a collection of contemporary art that is currently being established with a particular focus on photography. Pioneering exhibitions in recent years have focused on topics and strategies of international contemporary art.

overview

The museum keeps an eye on contemporary art since the 1950s and 1960s as well as current art production. One focus is the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher . Bernd Becher was born in Siegen in 1931 and grew up there. With Becher's work, a regional accent is set in international contemporary art, which gives a direction in the collection and exhibition program for younger art.

The Lambrecht-Schadeberg collection, which is housed in the museum, refers in its collection concept to the Rubens Prize of the city of Siegen, named after Peter Paul Rubens, who was born in Siegen . The collection currently has over 200 works from all of the Rubens Prize winners. Central works by Hans Hartung (Rubens Prize Winner 1958), Francis Bacon (Rubens Prize Winner 1967), Maria Lassnig (Rubens Prize Winner 2002) or Bridget Riley (Ruby Prize Winner 2012) as well as extensive groups of works by Cy Twombly (Ruby Prize Winner 1987), Lucian Freud (1997) and Sigmar Polke ( Rubens Prize Winners 2007) - to highlight some of the winners - are on permanent display in Siegen.

In the contemporary art collection with holdings from the fields of photography, video and installation art, a factual, objective and conceptual artistic approach predominates. Important photographic series by Bernd and Hilla Becher, such as the “half-timbered houses of the Siegen industrial area”, form central cornerstones. In addition to the documentary practice of the Bechers, influential positions in serial and project-related photography are part of the collection. Another cornerstone are the works and groups of works by Peter Piller, Diango Hérnandez and Vajiko Chachkhiani, who received the Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen. It was founded in May 2001.

From 2001 to 2004, Dr. Barbara Engelbach the Museum of Contemporary Art Siegen. Until the end of March 2019, the art historian Eva Schmidt was the artistic director of the museum. On April 1, 2019, Thomas Thiel , the previous director of the Bielefelder Kunstverein , took over the management of the museum.

Exhibitions

After the grand opening presentation , which was on view for a year, three to four major temporary exhibitions have been shown annually since 2003 .

Since 2006 there has been a themed exhibition and two to three solo exhibitions of young or established contemporary artists each year . In addition, smaller presentations in the Lambrecht-Schadeberg Collection introduce new acquisitions and show the works of the Rubens Prize winners from different perspectives. Special highlights in the program are the exhibitions of the new Rubens Prize and Rubens Young Talent Prize winners, which alternate every five years.

The Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen

The Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen , founded in 1955, is awarded every five years to a painter or graphic artist who has demonstrated a pioneering life's work in European art. The award commemorates the painter-diplomat Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens - born in Siegen, grew up in Cologne and Antwerp - as a master of European baroque painting set artistic and political standards to which the Rubens Prize has been committed since 1957/58. The prize is endowed with € 25,000 and is associated with an exhibition and a catalog.

The previous winners are: Hans Hartung (1957), Giorgio Morandi (1962), Francis Bacon (1967), Antoni Tàpies (1972), Fritz Winter (1977), Emil Schumacher (1982), Cy Twombly (1987), Rupprecht Geiger ( 1992), Lucian Freud (1997), Maria Lassnig (2002), Sigmar Polke (2007), Bridget Riley (2012). On July 2, 2017, Niele Toroni was awarded the 13th prize.

The Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen

The Rubens Prize Promotion Prize was founded by the City of Siegen in 1980 to promote young artists and is awarded every five years. It is endowed with 5000 € and connected to an exhibition and a catalog. The award winners, like the Rubens Prize winners, are awarded by a newly constituting, independent five-member jury composed of people from art criticism, museums, teaching and the visual arts. Each juror suggests up to three artistic personalities, after discussion and voting the decision is made.

The previous winners are: Max Neumann (1984), Julia Lohmann (1989), Karin Sander (1994), Silke Rehberg (1999), Peter Piller (2004), Diango Hernández (2009), Vajiko Chachkhiani (2014) and most recently Lena in 2019 Henke.

architecture

For the architect Josef Paul Kleihues , the renovation and new building of the Siegen Museum of Contemporary Art was the ninth museum project realized. In Siegen, Kleihues combined old buildings with a new building to create the current museum architecture. The old building, erected in 1894 as a telegraph office, was extended by a building facing the courtyard of the Lower Castle ; In addition, an exposed concrete wall was erected in front of the new building, on which a large video screen is installed.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Thiel new director of the Museum for Contemporary Art Siegen. www.kunstforum.de, September 28, 2018, accessed on September 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ http://museumfuergegenwartskunstsiegen.de/index.php?mid=9
  3. ^ Homepage of the city of Siegen, viewed June 26, 2012

Coordinates: 50 ° 52 '25.9 "  N , 8 ° 1' 20.8"  E