Our Philosophy
The Sammlung Goetz spurs art enthusiasm around the globe.
History | Identity
The Sammlung Goetz is an internationally significant contemporary art collection. Located in Munich, it is an exceptional place to encounter and experience contemporary art and culture. Founded in 1993 by the collector Ingvild Goetz, the collection now comprises more than 5,000 artworks from nearly all artistic genres, making it one of the world’s largest collections of contemporary art.
Collection highlights include Arte Povera, American painting from the 1980s onwards, Young British Artists, media art, photography and works on paper. It also contains extensive collections of works by individual artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Thomas Schütte, Cindy Sherman, Mike Kelley and Peter Fischli & David Weiss.
In 1989/90, Ingvild Goetz commissioned the then still-unknown architects Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron to build a private museum. It is the first museum building by the Swiss architects worldwide and is now an icon of modern architecture. Since the opening of the exhibition building in 1993, the collection has been accessible to the public free of charge in curated temporary exhibitions. This concept has helped make the Sammlung Goetz an international role model for many other collector’s museums.
In 2014, Ingvild Goetz donated part of her collection and the museum to the Free State of Bavaria, which has continued to operate it as a state institution ever since. With its varied, cross-genre exhibition and education program, the Sammlung Goetz continues to appeal to a broad audience both on site and digitally while also enabling different groups to participate in its projects.
In addition to traditional educational formats, such as (dialog) guided tours, talks and workshops, the Sammlung Goetz is using into new opportunities to reach visitors and non-visitors in innovative ways as part of the digital transformation. A top priority in the development of analog and digital concepts is sustainability. Dialogs between experts and networking with institutions around the world provide the impetus for designing new exhibition formats, using unusual locations and testing innovative cooperation models.
Mission
The mission of the Sammlung Goetz includes collecting, preserving, researching, documenting, exhibiting and communicating artworks in its collection. This is achieved by presenting curated exhibitions at the museum and other venues, as well as through international cooperation projects and an intensive loan program. With its focus on contemporary art, the Sammlung Goetz is continuously expanding to include artistic positions and existing work groups by artists, which are supplemented by new acquisitions.
Since its foundation in 1993, the Sammlung Goetz has reflected the entire spectrum of social identities and sexual orientations in its acquisition and exhibition practices. It is persistent in its opposition to discrimination and violence against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans*, inter* and queer people (LGBTIQ* for short) and campaigns for their equality, appreciation and empowerment in society. Many of the works in the collection explicitly deal with themes of sexuality, gender and identity. Such works have been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions, for which catalogs have been published and a diverse accompanying program of talks, guided tours and workshops has been offered.
Vision
The goal of the Sammlung Goetz is to ensure its extensive art collection is accessible to as many people as possible and to generate enthusiasm for art in general. To this end, innovative and cross-genre exhibition formats have been and continue to be developed and tested for the most diverse fields of activity (keyword: flexibility). It understands the digital transformation as a challenge and opportunity to rethink and renew traditional ideas, structures and recommendations for action in museum practices. By expanding accessible digital offerings and mediation formats, the collection aims to do justice to the ever-changing forms of communication and to enable different users to participate and network.
