Under the leadership of Susanne Gaensheimer, the collection has grown significantly over the past seven years, becoming ever more polyphonic, international, and diverse. A key focus of the current presentation is the museum’s recent acquisitions, featuring groundbreaking works by Kader Attia, Cao Fei, Isa Genzken, Henrike Naumann, Isaac Julien, Raqs Media Collective, Bunny Rogers, Dayanita Singh, Hito Steyerl, and Ai Weiwei. A dedicated gallery showcases the K21 Global Art Award, an annual prize presented in collaboration with the Friends of the Kunstsammlung. The award includes the acquisition of a work for the museum, thereby strengthening the global reach of the K21 collection in a lasting way.

A major permanent highlight is Reinhard Mucha’s installation “Das Deutschlandgerät” (“The Germany Device”) (1990/2021), exhibited in the former plenary chamber of the Ständehaus since K21 opened in 2002. The first floor houses the archive of Dorothee and Konrad Fischer, where artistic positions and thematic strands represented by the influential Düsseldorf gallerists are presented regularly—currently with a focus on Lawrence Weiner.

Four wings with continuous arcades surround the building’s central public area, a spacious plaza. The creative treatment of this representative building in the Historicist style (1876-80) by the Munich architectural office of Kiessler + Partner created a modern museum building with a striking glaze domed roof which shapes the building’s aesthetic and at the same time spans an expansive sculpture garden located on the uppermost level. Together, a flexible hall for temporary exhibitions in the ground floor level and the upper galleries comprise more than 5300 m² of surface area.