Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst (Centre for Contemporary Art)

Since its founding in 2006, the Center for Contemporary Art (Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst) has been located in the so-called Glass Palace in Augsburg's textile district, a former cotton spinning and weaving factory that was built by the important architect Philipp Jakob Manz (1861-1936) and completed in 1910. Manz is considered a pioneer and consistent advocate of functional construction. His work provided significant impetus for modernism in the area of ​​secular building. He was particularly known for his contribution to industrial architecture.

As a striking architectural example of an early German steel frame building, the glass palace with its five floors and 13 window axes on each long side is now considered an important industrial monument. The towers, which are attached asymmetrically to the building, form striking accents. The large facades with windows on all sides gave the building its name. Manz implemented the principle of the daylight factory in multi-storey buildings. The architect's extensive calculations of light incidence and light scattering preceded the design; after all, room depths of 45 meters in the spinning iron halls were to be optimally illuminated.

The building, originally built as Plant IV (“Aumühle”), was part of the Augsburg mechanical cotton spinning and weaving factory and was in operation until 1989. In the years that followed, the building changed hands several times until it was acquired by the building contractor Ignaz Walter in 1999. The current usage concept has existed since 2006.

Since 2006, the city's modern and contemporary art collection has found a place in the Center for Contemporary Art in the Glass Palace where its own holdings and new acquisitions can be presented on a regular basis, alternating with special exhibitions. Excerpts from the “New Art Collection” that is currently being set up will be shown in different constellations and with changing thematic focuses. The collection includes several hundred works from all media of artistic expression. In addition to outstanding national and international positions, a number of works by artists working in Augsburg are also represented. – The area of contemporary art in particular is currently being digitally accessed in order to gradually expand the online collection in the future and thus promote research.

In addition to private donations and the active support of the Circle of Friends of the Augsburg Art Collections, numerous works also found their way into the inventory as a result of projects and through collaborations with artists. The “New Art Collection” therefore also reflects the exhibition activities of the Center for Contemporary Art.
 

Originally generated from the entire holdings of the Kunstsammlungen Augsburg, the museum library, which is now being systematically expanded, focuses on monographic and thematic exhibition catalogues, reference works and periodicals on the fine arts from classical modernism to the present. It can also be used as a reading and seminar room and is available to interested visitors free of charge as a reference library.

An Artothek run by the Gesellschaft für Gegenwartskunst (GfG) offers art lovers the opportunity to borrow contemporary art for their home environment. There is a choice of more than 140 works on paper by internationally, nationally and regionally known artists, which can be borrowed for two months for a small fee. Opening hours: To the opening hours of the Artothek >>>