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In 2026, the Ludwig Museum celebrates the 30th anniversary of its re-establishment. Originally founded in 1989, the institution reopened on 14 December 1996 as the Museum of Contemporary Art. On this occasion, its international contemporary art collection was significantly expanded with works by Hungarian artists. Acquisitions made possible with the support of leading economic actors of the time and the Ministry of Culture and Public Education brought into the public collection works that have since become important reference points in recent Hungarian art.
To mark the 30th anniversary, the Ludwig Museum seeks to revisit this model of collaboration and revive it in a contemporary context. For The Next 30 initiative, the museum’s professional team has selected works by contemporary Hungarian artists, focusing primarily on art created since 2000 and on works by more recent generations. Since its foundation, the Ludwig Museum’s collection has continuously evolved and expanded. However, acquisitions have not always been able to keep pace with the rapidly changing artistic developments of the past two decades and the emergence of new generations of artists.
During this period, numerous works have been created that capture key issues of our time and important developments in contemporary Hungarian art, yet have not entered the Ludwig Museum’s international collection. The pop-up exhibition The Next 30 presents the selected works, while raising a question that lies at the heart of the initiative: which works will we use, thirty years from now, to tell the story of Hungarian art today?
Selected Artists:
Nikolett Balázs, Szilvia Bolla, Borsos Lőrinc (János Borsos, Lilla Lőrincz), Igor & Ivan Buharov (Kornél Szilágyi, Nándor Hevesi), Mária Chilf, EJTECH (Eszter Judit Kárpáti, Esteban de la Torre), Sári Ember, Marcell Esterházy, Viola Fátyol, Márk Fridvalszki, Csaba Kis Róka, Gábor Kristóf, Judit Lilla Molnár, Barnabás Neogrády-Kiss, Norbert Oláh, Randomroutines (Tamás Kaszás, Krisztián Kristóf), Rita Süveges, Róbert Szabó Benke, Eszter Szabó, Dominika Trapp, Ádám Ulbert, Júlia Vécsei, Dorottya Vékony
Works selected by:
Soma Bradák, Kriszta Dékei, Julia Fabényi, Zsuzsanna Fehér, Borbála Kálmán, József Készman, Zsófia Máté, Viktória Popovics, Krisztina Szipőcs, Andrea Tarczali, Katalin Timár