Federal Art Collection
The Bundeskunstsammlung is a collection of contemporary art that is supported and financed by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany . Its official name is the Collection of Contemporary Art of the Federal Republic of Germany .
The Federal Art Collection was founded in 1971 at the instigation of the then Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt, following a suggestion by the chairman of the German Association of Artists , Georg Meistermann . After the collection was initially under the care of the Minister of the Interior , it is now managed by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media . Its aim is to document artistic creation and the development of contemporary art in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The collection does not have its own exhibition building. Works from the collection, which today (2010) comprises more than 1,400 objects, can be borrowed from public institutions such as the Federal Chancellery , federal ministries , German embassies , but also numerous museums in Germany. Parts of the collection are presented in exhibitions, for example in the art and exhibition hall of the Federal Republic of Germany . The Bundestag has its own collection of modern art, and the federal states also buy works by living artists.
An independent commission made up of experts decides on purchases for the Federal Art Collection. The voluntary members are reappointed every five years by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The members meet at the three internationally important art fairs Art Basel , Art Cologne (Cologne) and Berlin to buy . They currently (2015) have around 400,000 euros at their disposal.
The collection includes paintings , but also works from the fields of graphics , photography and installation . Artists such as Isa Genzken , Johanna Diehl , Thomas Struth , Ólafur Elíasson , Markus Oehlen , Martin Kippenberger , Andy Hope 1930 (Andreas Hofer), Jonathan Monk and Barbara Heinisch are represented . Due to the small budget, commercially very successful artists such as Georg Baselitz , Markus Lüpertz , AR Penck and Gerhard Richter are only represented with works on paper, Anselm Kiefer not at all.