About us

Art is enthu­siasm, and art is knowledge. The Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg wishes to share this knowledge. It strives to be a place of identi­fi­ca­tion for the citizens of the city and the region and, of course, also wants to appeal to inter­na­tional visitors. It wants to take an artistic look at the world from the stand­point of Wolfsburg in order to contri­bute to an under­stan­ding of global events in all their comple­xity with the help of current art themes. The Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg wishes to inspire and to build bridges with art. With contem­porary digital strate­gies, it strives to commu­ni­cate its contents to the widest possible audience, arouse curiosity, and inspire enthu­siasm for (inter)active encoun­ters with art.

The Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg intends to further expand its signi­fi­cance with a scholarly and curato­ri­ally ambitious exhibi­tion program. The central starting point is both the high-caliber collec­tion and an indepen­dent program that focuses on contem­porary art, but also takes positions of classical modernism into account in order to open up larger cultural contexts for the public.

As a place of cultural education for all, the Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg aims to be a meeting place for people from a wide variety of social backgrounds, with fasci­na­ting artistic positions and themes of global relevance. The Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg strives to be a place where visitors can feel at home at their own level of knowledge through diffe­ren­tiated offerings of infor­ma­tion, where they can learn interes­ting facts about art, culture, and society and also make emotional experi­ences. At the same time, it also sees itself as a critical analyst and companion of global developments

The Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg strives to be an open, vital, and dynamic place of art and culture for everyone.

The Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg has been collec­ting inter­na­tional contem­porary art since 1994. A solid founda­tion was laid with key works from the field of Minimal Art, Concep­tual Art and Arte Povera. Works by a younger genera­tion of artists were subse­quently added. It was never the intention to assemble a broad encyclo­pedic collec­tion, focusing instead on prominent major works, ensembles and work phases in addition to the exemplary presen­ta­tion of artistic develo­p­ments. The result is not a documen­ta­tion of so-called “currents” but concen­trates instead on artists and artworks repre­sen­ting important aspects of contem­porary art. The collec­tion presently encom­passes circa 900 works or ensembles.

Franz Ackermann, Doug Aitken, Carl Andre, Nobuyoshi Araki, John M. Armleder, Katie Armstrong, Richard Artsch­wager, Awst & Walther, Caroline Bachmann & Stefan Banz, Christian Boltanski, Stanley Brouwn, Hussein Chalayan, Tony Cragg, René Daniëls, Jan Dibbets, Burhan Doğançay, Olafur Eliasson, Helmut Federle, Peter Fischli/David Weiss, Gilbert & George, Douglas Gordon, Paul Graham, Andreas Gursky, Brian Harte, Eberhard Havekost, Jeppe Hein, Georg Herold, Gary Hill, Damien Hirst, Rebecca Horn, Pieter Hugo, Gary Hume, Jörg Immen­dorff, Christian Jankowski, Sergej Jensen, Johannes Kahrs, Gert Jan Kocken, Peter Keetman, Anselm Kiefer, In Sook Kim, Imi Knoebel, Gert Jan Kocken, Ola Koleh­mainen, Jeff Koons, Jannis Kounellis, Imi Knoebel, Robert Lebeck, Pia Linz, Michael Majerus, Joseph Marioni, Rémy Marko­witsch, Maix Mayer, Allan McCollum, Gerhard Merz, Mario Merz, Sarah Morris, Maurizio Nannucci, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Panama­renko, Verner Panton, Manfred Pernice, Elizabeth Peyton, Daniel Pflumm, Julius Popp, Neo Rauch, Tobias Rehberger, Thomas Schütte, Cindy Sherman, Beat Streuli, Philip Taaffe, Sam Taylor-Johnson, James Turrell, Luc Tuymans, Jeff Wall, Lawrence Weiner, James Welling, Tim Wolff, Erwin Wurm, Thomas Zipp.

The Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg is probably the only museum in Europe with a Japan Garden. Origi­nally conceived by the museum’s architect Peter Schweger, the 16 x 32 meter large sculpture court was opened in September 2007 as a place of tranqui­lity and contem­pla­tion. The concep­tion of a Zen garden is closely tied to the “Japan and the West: The Filled Void” exhibi­tion that was shown the same year. Inspired by the museum’s trans­pa­rent technoid appearance that was conceived as an urban villa, the Japan Garden repres­ents a peaceful oasis in the middle of the indus­trial city of Wolfsburg.

Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Kazuhisa Kawamura from the Fachhoch­schule Mainz was the partner architect involved in the planning of the Japan Garden. Kawamura has been active in Germany since 1973. Aside from his profes­sor­ship for repre­sen­ta­tional geometry, the founda­tions of design and archi­tec­tural theory he works as a freelance architect in Cologne. Roofed and furnished with benches, the Japan Garden offers the visitor the chance to unwind and slow down. Looking out across the pebbled area one’s glance meets a wall that lends the garden a sculp­tural quality on account of its compo­si­tion and color as well as through its inter­ac­tion with two other smaller wall slabs. According to the Japanese way of thinking, it is not contra­dic­tory to enclose nature in the form of a garden with hedges, walls and buildings but rather a sign of the Japanese sense of beauty. The delibe­rate combi­na­tion of planned ratio­na­lity and random natural­ness is charac­te­ristic of a Japanese garden. Only when it is bordered like a painting in a frame is the garden recognized as such and appreciated.

Elements of Zen gardens are integrated into the large pebbled area that symbo­lizes water. The stones and plants were chosen in accordance with their climatic suita­bi­lity; Japanese bamboos were thus planted alongside local juniper bushes and a maple tree that will develop into a bonsai through continual profes­sional trimming.

Ideally, the garden and the museum are not to be seen as separate archi­tec­tonic works but rather as parts of a single overall concept. Both environ­ments seemingly flow naturally into each other, creating a symbiosis. The Japan Garden in the Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg is acces­sible to museum visitors during the museum’s usual opening hours (through the east cabinet to the rear of the large exhibi­tion hall).

The realiz­a­tion of the garden was generously supported by Pon Holdings B.V., Nijkerk, The Netherlands.

Currently, the Japangarten is unfor­tu­n­a­tely still closed. Status July 2023.