Here and Now at Museum Ludwig

The exhibition “Paradoxal Paradise” (working title) highlights the museum as a venue of the past and future, as a place of art and as a building, and in so doing, is the next instalment in the series “Here and Now at Museum Ludwig” with a focus on sustainability.

The garden is a central theme in the exhibition. The museum’s location at Bischofsgartenstrasse recalls a time in the Middle Ages when the site was the bishop’s vegetable garden, and even further back to antiquity, as evidenced by an excavated Roman burial slab depicting plant motifs. Although these historic gardens no longer exist, plants and paradise are still very much key themes at the Museum Ludwig.

Building on these historical roots, the museum hopes to make “Paradoxal Paradise” a real-world laboratory for future museum praxis. Logistical measures, such as sustainable exhibition architecture and lighting, will be supplemented by a new concept which will make the exhibition period last an entire year. Divided into four chapters and curated by a contemporary artist, the concept proposes exhibiting a maximum of three works or objects from the museum’s collection or inner-German loans. In memory of the bishop’s garden, the project will install a vegetable garden around Museum Ludwig, planted and cultivated in cooperation with members of the community. To encourage long-term transformation of the museum, other internal sustainability projects will take place at the same time, e.g. the greening of the rooftop terrace.