The ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (until March 2016: ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology), a cultural institution, was founded in 1989 and, since 1997, is located in a former munitions factory in Karlsruhe, Germany. The ZKM (German: Zentrum für Kunst und Medien) organizes special exhibitions and thematic events, conducts research and produces works on the effects of media, digitization, and globalization, and offers public as well as individualized communications and educational programs.
The ZKM houses under one roof exhibition spaces, the research platform Hertz Lab, a library and a media library, thus combining research and production, exhibitions and events, archive and collection. The ZKM operates at the interface of art and science, and addresses new knowledge in the area of new technologies to develop it further. After the death of founding director (1935–1999), the ZKM was directed by Peter Weibel (1999–2023), later together with . Weibel died on 1 March 2023, weeks before his planned retirement on 31 March 2023. He was succeeded on 1 April 2023 by the British curator . Besides the ZKM, the former munitions factory also houses the associated Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, and the [Municipal Art Gallery of Karlsruhe].
Mission "The mission of the ZKM is to explore the creative possibilities of connecting the traditional arts and media technologies to achieve innovative results. The goal is to enrich the arts, not to amputate them by technical means. This is why traditional art and media art must compete with one another. The ZKM is a place which supports both – each for itself and together. The Bauhaus, founded in Weimar in 1919, can be regarded as its model." – Heinrich Klotz
The ZKM's mission as formulated by founding director Heinrich Klotz in 1992 was implemented and developed further in the years that followed. Today, following guiding ideas mainly inform the work of the ZKM:
The ZKM is a location for all forms of contemporary art. As a center for research and development on theory and practice, the ZKM brings together artists, scholars, and scientists from a variety of disciplines. Through collecting and safeguarding works of art and historical equipment, as well as building a comprehensive archive of twentieth and twenty-first century arts, the ZKM is a preserver of cultural heritage. Here, the conservation of "digital art" is accorded special importance.
History
The founding of the Center for Art and Media goes back to the early 1980s. In the context of an ever-expanding media landscape and a changing art world, representatives from local government, the University of Karlsruhe, the University of Music Karlsruhe, the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe [Center for Nuclear Research Karlsruhe] and other institutions, as well as organizations and representatives of the Karlsruhe art scene formed the ZKM Project Group in 1986. In February 1988 the ZKM Project Group presented the results of their work, titled Concept ‘88, which described the initiative to bring the arts and the new media together in both theory and practice.
With the founding of a board of trustees in 1989 and the appointment of Heinrich Klotz as founding director, the ZKM became a concrete reality. Three dates mark the ZKM's foundation: the local council's resolution dated May 9, 1989; the decision by the Council of Ministers of the State of Baden-Württemberg dated 3 June 1989; and the entry into force of its statutes on 12 August 1989. To begin with, the ZKM occupied various buildings around the city. Prior to moving to its present location, the ZKM's media art festival MultiMediale (MultiMediale 1–5, 1989–1997) was held at changing locations.
For a considerable time, the ZKM's future permanent location was envisaged in an area to the south of Karlsruhe Central Station. An international architecture competition for a new building on the site was announced in March 1989, from which a visionary design by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas resulted. However, construction of the so-called Koolhaas-Cube was abandoned in 1992 for reasons of costs and space and instead, a disused factory building would be converted. Karlsruhe Council opted for repurposing Hallenbau A [Hall A], built 1914–1918 by architect Philipp Jakob Manz as a weapons and munitions factory, which was then an industrial ruin. The building, 312 meters long and divided into ten atria, was on the former factory site of the Industriewerke Karlsruhe-Augsburg (IWKA), which had been an industrial brownfields since the 1970s in the south-west of Karlsruhe that separated the city center from the surrounding urban areas. The conversion, based on plans drawn up by the Hamburg office of Schweger Architects, and the construction of the blue Cube annex inspired by Koolhaas's original design, commenced in 1993. When the ZKM moved to its new premises in 1997 it had studios and institutes for research and production (Institute for Visual Media, Institute for Music and Acoustics), a media theater, spaces for concerts and events, a media center, a Mediathek, and a Media Museum. In the second construction phase, the rooms housing the Museum of Contemporary Art (moved in 1999) and the associated Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (moved in 2001) were completed. From 2004 to 2005 the formerly independent Museum of Contemporary Art was reintegrated into the ZKM. In March 2016 the ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology changed its name to ZKM Center for Art and Media.
ZKM | Media Museum The central concerns of the Media MuseumMedia Museum In: zkm.de turn on the history and critique of the new media, which have been transforming the forms of everyday life for the past 50 years. Computer, telephone and Internet intervene in social and individual lives in that technical components become increasingly important. A further focus of the Media Museum is the interaction between observer and work of art: only through the actions and reactions of every single visitor do works actually emerge – the visitor itself becomes an element in the installation and, in this way, is able to explore the treatment with new technologies. With works of media art and interactive installations artists and scientists question media-technological developments and visions. Temporary exhibitions, such as "net_condition. Art/Politics in the Online Universe" (September 1999 to February 2000), "Iconoclash. Beyond Image Wars in Science, Religion and Art"Iconoclash In: zkm.de (from May to September, 2002) or "bit international"bit international In: zkm.de (February 2008 to January 2009) were highly respected both nationally and abroad.
ZKM | Museum of Contemporary Art Since December 1999, the Museum of Contemporary Art has been located in the atrium 1 and 2 of the former munitions factory. Across 7.000 sqm exhibition space, the museum displays works from private collections, namely the FER COLLECTION, the Sammlung Grässlin [Grässlin Collection], the Sammlung Siegfried Weishaupt [Weishaupt Collection], the collection of the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, VAF-Stiftung / Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto [VAF Foundation / Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto] (MART), as well as the Boros Collection, together with exponents drawn from the ZKM Collection and further collaborating collections. Temporary exhibitions, above all from the second half of the twentieth centuries through to contemporary approaches in contemporary art are presented. Among others monographic exhibitions, on Bruce Nauman, Bill Viola, Sigmar Polke, Franz West, Sylvie Fleury, Martin Kippenberger and Tobias Rehberger have been taking place since 1999. Special, thematic exhibitions were, inter alia "Making Things Public. Atmospheres of Democracy"Making Things Public. Atmospheres of Democracy In: zkm.deMaking Things Public. Atmospheres of Democracy In: mitpress.mit.eduRune Nydal: Making Things Public In: b-post.noMaking Things Public In: weeklyincite.blogspot.de/ (March to October, 2005), "Light Art from Artificial Light"Light Art from Artificial Light In: zkm.de In: http://artdaily.com/ (November 2005 to August 2006), "Medium Religion" Medium Religion In: zkm.deReligion in the Media, Media as a Religion In: goethe.de/enindex.htm (November 2008 till April 2009) or "The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989"Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989 In: zkm.deThe Global Contemporary In: globalartmuseum.de (September 2011 to February 2012). Furthermore, smaller scale exhibitions are held in the museum project spaces.
Events The form and content of events vary: from opera with multimedial stages to scientific symposia and popular concerts through to performances, dance or film-screenings. Here, the ZKM functions both as an organizer and cooperation partner, but also leases out its facilities. The events take place in various spaces, among others, the Lecture Hall, the Media Theater, the Foyer and the ZKM_Cube.
The ZKM The ZKM | Karlsruhe has a total area of 15,000 m2 with exhibition spaces, research laboratories, a media library, event spaces, and workshop spaces.
Exhibitions
Atrium 1 & 2 Atrium 8 & 9 PanoLab Subraum
Research and production
Hertz Lab Lab for Antiquated Video Systems
Event spaces
Media Theater Lecture Hall
Workshop rooms
BÄMlab
The exhibition spaces are open to the public as well as the library and the Media Lounge. Further, in the foyer of the ZKM visitors will find the Info Point, the Museum Shop, and the Mint Café/Bistro.
Funding The basic funding of the ZKM is provided in equal parts by the City of Karlsruhe and the State of Baden-Württemberg.
Exhibitions and events In exhibitions and events, the ZKM shows approaches and themes of contemporary art, but also presents artists and art movements that are almost forgotten, as well as artworks in various media and genres – from Artificial Intelligence installations to oil paintings.
Every year, on 6 January, the ZKM and the Städtische Galerie hold an Open Day where admission is free of charge.
Exhibitions Since 1989 the ZKM | Karlsruhe has been mounting exhibitions – interactive, participatory, and performative – as well as producing the accompanying publications. In changing thematic and monographic exhibitions organized in the ZKM's 15,000 m2 exhibition spaces, contemporary developments in art and society are presented in all types of media and using all kinds of methods.
The ZKM’s curatorial department develops its exhibition programme in collaboration with the board of directors, its laboratories and research departments, partner institutions worldwide, and an international network of artists, scholars, scientists and curators.
The ZKM is involved in a large number of international collaborative projects, which enables the ZKM's exhibitions and their content to be made available to a global audience. The own exhibitions curated by the ZKM are regularly presented internationally. In 2018, 20 ZKM exhibitions were on show at locations around the world, including in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, the Philippines, India, South Korea, and China.
In 2018, CryptoKitties was used by the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe to showcase blockchain technology. Events Alongside the exhibitions, events take place as platforms for exchanging opinions and information with visitors and figures from various spheres of social life such as politics, the economy, and philosophy. The form and content of the events vary: from opera with a multimedia stage, scientific symposia, and popular concerts to performances, dance, and film screenings. Here, the ZKM functions both as an organizer and collaboration partner, and also as a contact for leasing out its facilities. The events take place in various spaces, for example, the Lecture Hall, the Media Theater, the Foyer, and the ZKM Cube.