TEMPORARY CLOSED // The Sammlung Goetz is an internationally acclaimed exhibition of contemporary art in Munich. In what is a glass and concrete house, visitors can marvel at 4,500 stunning works by over 500 artists – including drawings, photographs and a wealth of video art and installations.
Everywhere you look, there’s art: In an idyllic garden situated in the district of Oberföhring, a house in the form of a building block stands between birch trees and man-high sculptures – an architectural masterpiece brought by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog and De Meuron. Huge windows line up to form a long glass band at the top and bottom of the facade. They allow light to flood evenly into the rooms, on the wooden stairs and the unpainted plaster, without dazzling visitors and distracting from what matters most – the fine art on display.
Temporary exhibitions have been held here since 1993, with the aim of presenting the expansive Goetz collection in an insightful way. This originated from the mid-1980s. The art collector and curator Ingvild Goetz brought together works of contemporary art that stretch from the 1960s to the present day.
The Sammlung Goetz is underpinned by works from the “Arte Povera”, a movement from Italy, which typically renders its installations using everyday materials such as plaster, earth or wood. Furthermore, Ingvild Goetz and other key individuals actively and critically monitor the art scene across the world, in order to expand the collection with the addition of suitable exhibits. At the same time, the works of previously exhibited artists are supplemented at an ever greater rate.
In 2004, the museum building’s basement was extended to include the room “BASE103”. It is there that the collection’s media works – including videos and multiple projections – have found their home.
A visit to the Sammlung Goetz is only possible after prior-registration and within the opening hours. Admission is free.
In the evening, when darkness sets in, warm light penetrates through the frosted glass and into the garden. Sometimes, projected images illuminate the house’s concrete surface. Sometimes it is an owl, or perhaps a swimming pool.
Experimentation is expressly permitted here. The underlying concepts for the exhibitions themselves are often worked out in creative collaboration with the respective artists. And the Sammlung Goetz also frequently cooperates with museums such as Villa Stuck or the Haus der Kunst or the Pinakothek der Moderne, in order to present its own works in entirely new contexts and to surprise and inspire visitors in equal measure.
