Comments on ZKM

The facade of the ZKM mirrored in the blue glass panes of the ZKM_Cube..

/////// ZKM among the top 5 of the world museums

In the current ranking of the world's largest database ArtFacts.net, ZKM ranks fourth – after the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Vennice Biennale and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

The ZKM thus not only holds the top position among German museums, but also ranks among the world's most important art institutions.

The graphic shows a world map showing the stations of the ZKM exhibitions worldwide.

/////// »Beat Generation« elected on 3rd place of »Best of 2016: Our Top 15 Exhibitions Around the World«!

The online magazine Hyperallergic ranked two exhibitions in the top 15 of the »Best of 2016«: »Beat Generation« in cooperation with the Centre Pompidou in Paris (Number 3) and »The Thinking Machine, Ramon Llull and the Ars Combinatoria«, which the ZKM developed with the vice chancellor of Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) Siegfried Zielinski. The first stop of the exhibition could be seen in Barcelona and it will be exhibited at the ZKM in 2018.

Brion Gysin »Calligraphie«, 1960 in the exhibiton »Beat Generation«

/////// Peter Weibel according to Cicero Magazin among »The 500 most important intellects«

In the magazine Cicero, the ranking of »The 500 most important intellects« in the German-speaking world was published once again. ZKM Director and Artistic Director Peter Weibel is listed at Number 76 (previously Number 159 (+83)), Peter Sloterdijk at Number 2 (previously Number 8 (+6)).

/////// Two honorings for ZKM exhibitons in the Artforum International's »Best of 2016«

The ZKM is represented in the »Best of 2016« edition of the international art magazine ARTFORUM with two GLOBALE exhibitions: »Allah's Automata« is acknowledged as an »unbelievable show of automatons built in the Arab world between 800 and 1200«. And »Reset Modernity!«, the exhibition, which concluded the GLOBALE, is praised as an »unconventional exhibition«. The authors write, »It was a real experience – fascinating and disorienting!«

Many small pictures with artworks combined into a collage.

»In uncertain times of globalisation and deep ecological crises, this curious, unconventional exhibition suggested a »resetting« of the modernistic project; thus it inspired us to redefine our way of thinking about the world and, also, to redesign our relationship with art.«

»Anyone who thought that robotics were an invention from the recent past should take a look at these pioneering machines of this unbelievable exhibition of automatic machines, which were designed and built in the Arabic world between 800 and 1200 A.D.«

/////// Honorings for ZKM-Publications

In the article »The Best Art of 2016« in The New York Times, Holland Cotter, art critic and Pulitzer prize winner, chose the ZKM Monograph about Lynn Hershman Leeson, »Civic Radar«, as one of the indispensable books published this year. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Hans Ulrich Obrist, world-famous curator and author, chose the ZKM publication, »The Imaginary 20th Century« as one of the »books of the year«. The publication »Flusseriana« was elected among the best 25 books of 2016.

View of two sample pages of «Flusseriana«

Siegfried Zielinski, Peter Weibel, Daniel Irrgang (eds.), »Flusseriana«, Univocal, 2015

»Indispensable books arrived, among them (...) »Civic Radar«, by Lynn Hershman Leeson, accompanying her retrospective at ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany.«

Holland Cotter, art critic and Pulitzer prize winner, »The Best Art of 2016«, in: The New York Times, 07.12.2016

»Time and again, it is astounding to realise, when you go out into the world, that there is not an institution like the ZKM in every country. It is not possible to emphasise often enough how important the ZKM is.«

Hans Ulrich Obrist, internationally renowned curator and head of the Serpentine Gallery London, in: Weltkunst, No. 108, November 2015

»People are trying to really give you an artistic experience with all the senses. It can be tactile, auditory, visual.«

Paul Golding, chief scientist at KLIO, in: USA TODAY, 13.05.2016

/////// Frei Otto – a »brilliantly designed show«

Amber Sayah writes in the Stuttgarter Zeitung (10/11.12.2016): The »Frei Otto« exhibition is an »abundantly adorned and brilliantly designed show covering 2000 square metres.« Other architecture galleries are »matchboxes in comparison to the virtually endless sequence of rooms at Karlsruhe’s ZKM.«

Visitors at the opening of the exhibition »Frei Otto. Thinking by modelling«

»If I want to stimulate my mind, then I go to the ZKM in Karlsruhe.«

Petra Olschowski, State Secretary in the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, in: Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 21.05.2016

»Frei Otto is missing. And you can only recommend to all those who are staring at their monitors right now to take a trip to Karlsruhe and to think, yes to take in the models.«

Gerhard Matzig, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 03.01.2017

»The tremendous panorama of the Karlsruhe exhibition outlines the image of a relentless researcher, based on models and tools, on over a thousand photos, drawings, sketches, plans, films and an open archive.«

Karin Leydecker, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 06.01.2017

Jean-Jacques Lebel »Couple new-yorkais«, 1961 in the exhibition »Beat Generation«

»A long display cabinet welcomes the exhibition visitors – in it Kerouac's unrolled manuscript from 1951 as a long paper web, glued together from single sheets: yellowed, torn at the edges. A showpiece that also opens up an impressive cosmos of associations, which constantly transcends the boundaries of the art forms.«

Gunther Reinhardt, Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 20.01.2017

»The »Beat Generation« exhibition resurrects the saints of intoxication, who paid for their lifestyle with stays in psychiatric clinics and jails.«

Carmela Thiele, Monopol, 08.01.2017

»The exhibition makes it clear that the »Beat Generation« is not just poetry, but also painting and film, experimental and revolutionary.«

Ralf Rättig in 3sat Kulturzeit, 28.11.2016

»And in Karlsruhe, it is disclosed that the »Beats« didn’t just write: A whole wall is dedicated to the images and drawings of Jack Kerouac and we can marvel at a shotgun picture by William S. Burroughs.«

Manfred Heinfeldner, SWR KUNSCHT!, 24.11.2016

Table with the most important political and cultural events in Europe between 1945 and 1947

Detail of the timeline (1945-1947) for the exhibition »Europa 1945-1968«, ZKM | Karlsruhe, 2016

»The Karlsruhe exhibition prepares nothing less than a mental map of manifests and artistic factions all occurring at almost the same time (...). From an artistic surrounding, which directly involves realities and visitors, machine-controlled movement and illuminations arise, which you can take – in the ZKM – as building blocks for media art.«

Andrea Gnam, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 31.12.2016

»If Armando’s painting of a black head is replaced by a black board with barbed wire and eventually with scorched objects, this is a captivatingly linear rationale. (...) The ZKM in Karlsruhe celebrates the healing power of art.«

Ursula Scheer, Frankfurter Allgemeine Woche, 50/2016

»We have to imagine: Karlsruhe can be something that the MIT and MoMA cannot be.«

Peter Laudenbach about the salvage and conservation of computer and media art at the ZKM | Laboratory for Antiquated Video Systems; in: Das brand eins Magazin zum Hören, July 2016

Germany’s international broadcaster »Deutsche Welle« named the ZKM a »fascinating and world famous site for experimenting« and declared it one of the »Ten German museums that you should know about« – nominated from a total of 6,500 museums in Germany.

USA TODAY, the United States newspaper with the third highest circulation in the country, voted the ZKM | Karlsruhe as one of the »10 Best Places to immerse yourself in digital art.«

////// Art meets Digital‬

The two EU Commissioners Günther H. Oettinger and Tibor Navracsics took their participation in the opening of the Joint Reserch Center at the North Campus of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) as a cause to pay a visit to ZKM: »In the digital age, art and engineering are no longer contradictory modes of thinking. Was great @zkmkarlsruhe« Günther H. Oettinger tweeted afterwards. Tibor Navracsics as well let his enthusiasm rein free on Twitter: »Happy to be @zkmkarlsruhe today – impressed by creativity and ‪#‎innovation here. Art meets ‪#‎digital«.

Four men and two women standing in front of an installation that represents a kind of curtain of oil.

The EU Commissioners Günther H. Oettinger and Tibor Navracsics as well as Mayor Frank Mentrup during a visit at the ZKM

»The ZKM is really a gem of this country. Art, science, creativity and modern technology fuse together here.«

Winfried Kretschmann, New Year reception of the state government at the ZKM | Karlsruhe, 22.1.2016

/////// ZKM mentioned in current federal state government's coalition agreement

Excerpt: »Media promotion and funding interactive features like high-quality computer games has become an increasingly important issue because these features are an important factor in the Baden-Württemberg creative industries. We will continue activities we have begun here and want to expand them. This includes integrating Baden-Württembergian universities and the ZKM Karlsruhe as an internationally recognized beacon, integrating them into these activities.«

Children are sitting in front of a playing area where are items lying around and virtual cars are driving

»Room Racers«, Lieven van Velthoven