Artists rarely cheer these days, these do. Because the dispute over their whereabouts at one of the best addresses in Munich has been settled: the Professional Association of Fine Artists Munich and Upper Bavaria eV (BBK) will remain with its gallery space at Maximilianstraße 42. The association does not have to give way to the Five Continents Museum, which is in the same is housed in a magnificent building and had registered a need for more space. The State Ministry for Science and Art had already informed the artists that they should look for new rooms. This was the subject of heated cross-party debates in the state parliament’s art committee, because artists’ work in these spaces has a long tradition. Just as long as that of the museum, which was known as the “Völkerkundemuseum” until its name change in 2014.
In 1900, Prince Regent Luitpold gave the “royally privileged artists” rooms as exhibition and presentation areas. As a successor to the “Royally Privileged”, the professional association has now been running the rooms as its own gallery for 75 years. He sees this “as a showcase for the work of artists in Munich and all of Bavaria”.
A statement from the Ministry of Art and Science now states that “an agreement has been reached that ensures that the artists’ gallery will remain in the state-owned property at Maximilianstrasse 42”. So also for the time after the renovation of the house. Because it has long been known that the building, like so many other cultural buildings in Bavaria, is in urgent need of renovation and modernization. The ministry calls the time horizon for this: “medium-term, there is currently no appointment for the renovation”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/.”Setting the course for use afterwards” at an early stage now enables safe planning for everyone involved. And Bavaria’s Minister of Art, Bernd Sibler, is now emphasizing, after the change of direction in his ministry, that it was particularly important to him “that this traditional connection continues”.
Joy in hallowed halls: the artists’ gallery can remain in the side wing of the Five Continents Museum.
(Photo: BBK)
At the same time, the regulation met the request of the Bavarian state parliament to resolve the tension between the spatial development possibilities of the Five Continents Museum and the space requirements of the Artists’ Gallery. The parties involved will work out a joint solution for the temporary accommodation of the gallery during the renovation as soon as a date is set. After all, the Five Continents Museum and the building on Maximiliansstraße also have a history steeped in tradition. The first ethnological museum in Germany has been in the premises since 1926. Since then, it has developed into a permanent fixture in Bavaria’s state museum landscape with its ethnological collection. “In addition, it carries out important research work on the provenance and history of objects and collections with particular commitment and great specialist expertise,” says Sibler.