Logo zum 50. Geburstag des Kunstmusem Magdeburg

In 2025, the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg is celebrating a special anniversary: its 50th birthday is being honoured with a unique annual programme under the motto ‘K50’. ‘K50’ combines 50 German terms associated with the museum and its significance for the region - all beginning with the letter ‘K’. Kunst (art), Kloster (monastery), Kulturgut (cultural heritage), Kontrast (contrast): these words reflect the diversity of the art museum. They symbolise half a century in which the museum has developed into what it is today: the most important exhibition venue for contemporary art in Saxony-Anhalt.

The anniversary provides an opportunity to look back on the multifaceted development of the museum since its foundation in 1975 and at the same time to look ahead. ‘K50’ is a symbol of the dialogue between past, present and future.

 

Highlights of the anniversary year

The anniversary year kicks off with an “Erlebnis-Nacht” on 8 February 2025, when the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg opens its doors for an extraordinary night full of art, music, theatre and creativity. Whether impressive light art by Laurenz Theinert in the church, exhibitions on five floors, entertaining theatre scenes, captivating music, dance or live performances.

The exhibition “Opération Béton” opens on 8 March 2025. The ambivalent building material, which harbours creative creation as well as destruction, reconstruction and environmental catastrophe, has always moved artists. While Karl Heinz Adler's moulded blocks stand for the reinterpretation of the material, the ambivalences between preservation and destruction have become a theme in Carsten Nicolai's video ‘Betonschiff ohne Namen’ and Erasmus Schröter's photographs ‘Bunker’.

The highlight of the anniversary year will be the major special exhibition ‘Herausgeforderte Gemeinschaft / Challenged Togetherness’, which will open with a ceremony on 14 June 2025. The Romanesque monastery will be the setting for an interdisciplinary panorama that encompasses the entire spectrum of contemporary art - from painting and sculpture to sound art, performances, film and video. International contemporary artists enter into a dialogue with the historical architecture and the eventful history of the museum, which makes the social transformation processes of the past 50 years tangible through its collection.

With this anniversary year, the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg is not only celebrating itself, but also its role as a lively meeting place for art, culture and society. ‘K50’ is an invitation to everyone to celebrate this special anniversary together, to enter into dialogue and to discover the many facets of art and community.