Kunstsammlungen Ruhr-Universität Bochum: Museum of modern and contemporary art

The art collections of the Ruhr University Bochum offer a fascinating insight into the development of modern and contemporary art. Two years after the university was founded, the art critic Albert Schulze-Vellinghausen left his collection of gestural-abstract and constructive-concrete art to the institution. This collection, which includes works by artists such as Josef Albers and Cy Twombly, forms the basis of today's exhibition. Thanks to the support of Paul Dierichs, important works by Alberto Giacometti and Richard Serra were acquired in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the collection was expanded to include photographs by Bernd and Hilla Becher and works by Gerhard Richter. The 2000s saw the addition of works by Imi Knoebel and Katharina Grosse. Today, the museum presents around 1,000 works of art in changing exhibitions, which are supplemented by thematic presentations and artistic interventions. The architecture of the university, a testimony to modernism, provides an impressive setting for the works of art and enables a dialog between past and present.