Museum of Concrete Art

The museum opened in 1992 in its current location, a historic 18th-century barracks building at the Tränktorstraße in Ingolstadt. The architectural design by the Munich-based architects Claus and Forster was awarded the BDA Prize for Bavaria in 1993. Concrete art does not refer to the building material but is an art movement. The term was first used in the 1930s by the Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg, who wrote a manifesto about what art in his opinion should convey: "The artwork must have been fully conceived and developed in the mind before its execution. It must not contain forms dictated by nature, sensuality, or emotion. Lyricism, drama, symbolism, etc., are to be avoided. The painting must be constructed exclusively from purely pictorial elements, i.e., from planes and colors. A pictorial element means nothing other than itself; consequently, the painting also means nothing other than itself." On the internet site of the museum it states: "There is hardly any modern art movement that continues to generate so many misunderstandings, myths, and fears to this day. Yet Concrete Art is an immediate art movement designed to engage the senses, one that can be understood even without any prior knowledge—but necessarily also without prejudice. It is a non-representational art form in painting, sculpture, film, or installations that does not seek to depict the visible world. Consequently, colors, shapes, lines, and – by extension – materials take on special significance. [...] The Museum of Concrete Art stands for the idea of the Concrete art movement and not for a static, one-dimensional interpretation of Concrete Art, which has always been subject to change anyway." The museum also focuses on selected aspects of design, which are often closely linked to concrete art and their creators. It also includes the Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst und Design (Foundation for Concrete Art and Design), which was established in 2007 by Ludwig Wilding, the City of Ingolstadt, and Ingeborg König, the widow of Ludwig Wilding. The foundation is supported by Audi ArtExperience, a cultural sponsorship program of the company Audi. The foundation's goal is to preserve the estates of significant artists of concrete art and make them accessible to the public. The chairperson of the foundation always is the current museum director; , this has been Theres Rohde. == Collections and donations ==

Eugen Gomringer Art Collection The foundation of the collection was laid by the acquisition of the private art collection of Eugen Gomringer in 1981. Gomringer was one of the leading figures of so-called concrete poetry. The acquisition was made possible by support from industry and artisan businesses, as well as numerous donations from the citizens of Ingolstadt. Collection of the Stiftung für Kunst und Design The Stiftung für Kunst und Design (Foundation for art and design) focuses on works from the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its founding in 2007, the collection has been continuously expanded. By 2022, the foundation’s collection already comprised 20 artists’ estates, with the artworks alone valued at 5.6 million euros. The foundation not only manages the estates and maintains contact with heirs, artists, and designers, but also ensures the necessary restoration of the artworks when required: "Providing the thousands of items in the collection with the necessary conservation treatments and climate-controlled storage conditions remains the foundation’s greatest challenge. Rising material and personnel costs make it difficult to implement these often urgent measures." Long-term loans from the Maximilian and Agathe Weishaupt collection In 2004, parts of the were exhibited for the first time at the Museum of Concrete Art. Since 2009, there has been an agreement between the Sammlung für Konkrete Kunst und Design, the museum, and the Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst und Design, under which targeted acquisitions are made for the newly planned Museum of Concrete Art and Design. Agathe Weishaupt herself commented "Part of our philosophy as collectors has always been to make these works known to the public and to display them in exhibitions. After all, art does not thrive in storage; it needs people to see it and appreciate it. I am therefore all the more delighted that our collection has had a second home at the MKK in Ingolstadt since 2004." In 2014 and 2015, the museum received a substantial design collection as a donation from Wilfried and Inge Funke. It comprises approximately 850 items dating from around 1920 to 1970 and includes porcelain, household utensils and ceramics from well-known manufacturers. Simone Schimpf, who was the museum’s director at the time said: "It is a great and unexpected stroke of luck for the Museum of Concrete Art to have acquired the Funke Collection, a carefully curated collection assembled over more than forty years. No museum today could purchase objects of such quality or such a precise selection." == Scheduled new museum building ==

In 2012, the city council approved plans to build a new museum in the historic Alte Gießereihalle in the eastern part of the old town. The need for a new building arose not only because of the very limited exhibition space of , but also due to outdated climate control systems. In addition, the rooms in the old museum building were too low for large exhibits, as they were at most high. They will be high in the new museum. In addition, a freight elevator will be installed, and rooms for a restaurant and a shop will be provided. The Renovation of the Historic Hall From a structural engineering perspective, the renovation of the historic hall, built in 1882, presented the developers with significant challenges. On the one hand, the hall is a listed building, so its exterior could not be altered; at the same time, however, all modern technical installations and the museum’s requirements for the space had to be met. The winning design by the Vienna-based firm Querkraft Architects called for the hall to be fitted with a completely new basement level, which would be used in the future as exhibition spaces for the museum. This required a great deal of preparatory work, such as lowering the groundwater level so that they could work on the underground structure at all. 72 large-diameter bored piles had to be driven up to deep into the ground to transfer the loads from the building above. Peter Kirchmann, the project manager, said: "These large-diameter bored piles are essential for transferring the load of the historic foundry building to the load-bearing underground and for continuing the archaeological excavation work from the current depth of minus to minus ". As part of the historic preservation process, archaeological excavations were carried out to a depth of up to , taking four months to complete. This required the installation of an additional 170 bored piles. Costs of the new building Initially, the project was estimated to cost 25 million euros, and the museum was scheduled to open in 2019. However, there were many delays in the project, which mean that the museum will not open fully until 2027. At the same time, the estimated costs for the new building continued to rise. Among other factors, the complicated foundation work for the underground structure drove up costs, Peter Schapp of the architectural firm Querkraft Architects summed it up: "The budget was unrealistic from the start. But it wasn’t even possible to estimate the costs accurately." == Directors ==

• 1992 – 2002: Peter Volkwein • 2002 – 2012: • 2013 – 2021: Simone Schimpf • 2021 – on-going: Theres Rohde == Exhibitions (selection) ==

• 2006: DieNeuen Tendenzen: Eine europoische Kiinstlerbewegung 1961-73 (The New Tendencies: A European Artist Movement 1961-73) • 2016: Logo. Die Kunst mit dem Zeichen/Logo. The Art of the Symbol • 2018: Color in Motion: Carlos Cruz-Diez • 2020: Mind the Gap! • 2024: Martin Creed: I don’t know what art is • 2024: 24! Fragen an die Konkrete Gegenwart (24! Questions for the Concrete Present) (together with the Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg) == References ==