Contemporary Art

The art karlsruhe programme includes not only classical modernism and post-war art but also contemporary positions, thus reflecting the most recent 125 years of art history in the four halls in Karlsruhe.

The term contemporary art refers to artistic positions from the 1960s to the 21st century. Style, artistic technique or medium play just as little a role as affiliation to specific movements or art genres. Contemporary art can therefore be classical painting or sculpture, but can also appear as performance, installation or in digital form. The only thing that characterises contemporary art is the reflection of current events that takes place through it.

The origin of the artists also plays no role in the discourse of contemporary art: social and economic globalisation and internationalisation in the second half of the 20th century also play a decisive role in the art world and thus ensure a worldwide artistic and interdisciplinary correspondence, which can also be traced during a visit to art karlsruhe.

As the third largest sector of the art market, contemporary art plays an important role in all Karlsruhe halls, also in direct juxtaposition with modern positions and the post-war period in Halls 1 and 2.

In our Discover Hall, which has existed since 2024, we would like to invite you to immerse yourself in the exciting discourses of the present and recent events and to engage with artistic approaches, questions and answers. The aim here is to discover the freedom, willingness to experiment and controversial nature of contemporary artists.

Interdisciplinary thinking and cross-disciplinary discourse? Go ahead!