15 years of the Gallery of Contemporary Art

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Gallery of Contemporary Art – a great reason to celebrate. Designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers, the Gallery of Contemporary Art opened to the public in 1997 as a new section of the Hamburger Kunsthalle dedicated to contemporary art. Since then, with the generous support of artists, friends, sponsors and art foundations, the collection has grown continuously through select acquisitions and donations, and the Gallery of Contemporary Art has developed into an internationally recognised museum of contemporary art. With its strong emphasis on artists' talks, lectures and guided tours, the Gallery of Contemporary Art has always sought to provide a forum for dialogue on contemporary art; to this end, we are hosting a one-day symposium entitled museum.gegenwart.jetzt as part of our 15th anniversary celebrations. Building, researching, maintaining and presenting a permanent collection are among the main tasks of any museum, but how can the collection be displayed in a meaningful and interesting way at a time when there is a growing trend towards 'event' exhibitions and mega-shows? Do changing displays of selected works from the collection provide a possible solution? What impact does this have on artists' rooms and site-specific or in-situ works that have become focal points of the museum? musum.gegenwart.jetzt provides a platform for debate on these and other related issues. At this symposium, leading international museum experts, artists, art historians, collectors and science historians will examine the current situation and future prospects of contemporary art museums in the 21st century. As well as discussing different collection concepts, the participants will put forward their views on temporary and permanent installations, and consider the notion of an 'open museum'.

To mark the anniversary, a new collection display entitled 15 Years of the Gallery of Contemporary Art will be opened on the 3rd floor of the museum. The Gallery of Contemporary Art's collection includes major bodies of work by Bruce Nauman, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Thomas Schütte, Rosemarie Trockel, Andy Warhol and many other leading artists, and these works are supplemented by long-term loans from major private collections that have been closely associated with the Gallery of Contemporary Art for many years. The new display provides fascinating insight into the collection with its highly diverse artworks, artists' rooms, new acquisitions and donations.

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