AMM Spotlight: Cologne, Germany, Museum Ludwig Celebrates 40 Years

The group exhibition We Call It Ludwig is the high point of the landmark year 2016 at the Museum Ludwig. The museum will be celebrating three anniversaries: In 1946 Josef Haubrich donated his collection of modernist artworks to the city of Cologne and thus laid the foundation for a museum. In 1976 Peter and Irene Ludwig signed a donation agreement comprising some 350 works of contemporary art, and in 1986 the new museum building was opened.

The theme of this wide-ranging show is the institution itself. For the anniversary exhibition, which was jointly conceived by the director and all the museum’s curators, twenty-five international artists and artist collectives have been invited to engage in depth with the institution and to react to the question of what the Museum Ludwig means to them. The Museum defines itself in large part based on its own history, its collection, and, above all, the people who have shaped it – as an artists’ museum. We Call It Ludwig reflects on what the museum has been, is, and can be.

AMM recently had the pleasure of experiencing the Museum Ludwig and the We Call it Ludwig group exhibition. The museum is just a stone’s throw away from the magnificent, Cologne Cathedral, and right next door to the historic centre of the city that takes you back to a time long gone.

Michael Reiss: Congratulations on the museum’s 40th anniversary, and the We Call it Ludwig group exhibition. Please tell us about the very latest addition to Museum Ludwig’s collection.
Dr. Yilmaz Dziewior, Director: The latest addition to the collection of our Museum were two paintings by a Peruvian artist Teresa Burga. They are now part of our big Pop Art collection and together with the work of Marisol (Escobar) who was Venezuelan from her origin. These works broaden the idea of Pop Art as only a European and North America phenomenon and show that also in Latin America artists dealt in the Sixties and Seventies with popular culture in their work.

MR: What does Museum Ludwig have planned for the future?
YD: The Museum Ludwig plans for the future to include more artists from Africa, Asia and Latin America not only in the collection but also in the exhibition program. Furthermore there will be more interdisciplinary projects and exhibitions originated from the collection.

Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a wonderful collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It also features many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.