Big Bang. Expanding Collection Horizons...

The exhibition is open: 09/05/2025 – 03/01/2027

The Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art presents a new exhibition of more than 80 artworks, which is both a theme park and data visualization organised around different focal points, and a self-reflection on the history, evolution, possibilities and goals of collecting.

Since its foundation in 1989, the museum’s collection has grown by over a thousand items. The periodic exhibitions of the collection organised regularly are mostly curatorial selections based on a specific theme, a particular characteristic or a particular point of view. The period of about seventy years in which the works were created also means that works from different periods and thus different contexts form the basis of the selections. In addition to reconstructing and preserving the original contexts and meanings, the historical perspective allows new connections to be made and other contexts to be explored.

The Big Bang compilation shows the evolution of the museum’s collection, starting from the timeline of acquisitions. This chronologically unfolding plane is intersected by the logic of the thematic perspective: the exhibition is presented in its own chronological order, divided into separate sections, and presents a unique cross-section of the continuously growing collection. To use an analogy, the selection is like a “family history” told in parallel narratives, a family album of the collection, if you like, which also presents a number of unseen “relatives” (works), and also gives a glimpse of the individual works’ own micro-history, the collection’s focal points and the aspects of the collection.

The selection does not necessarily follow art historical stylistic concepts. It focuses on broader themes and leitmotifs rather than aesthetic categories. In the twelve units, the curator explores themes such as the influence of pop culture on art, the idea or the concept as a work of art, hyperrealism that goes far beyond technical brilliance, and the notion of the post-contemporary, which has become widespread in recent years and is not without its contradictions, to describe a typical range of artworks. Through the works on display, visitors can learn about the place and role of street art or graffiti in contemporary art, the importance of machines and movement, or ecological art that focuses on environmental awareness and conservation, which goes beyond the walls of the gallery to become an active participant in the social dialogue about our environment.

Big Bang is a commonly used term in the standard cosmological model of the origin of the universe, which says that our world was born from a dense, hot state by an explosive expansion about 14 billion years ago.

In the context of the exhibition, the term refers first and foremost to the dynamic growth of the museum’s collection, both in terms of numbers and in nature, since its inception: the initial collection has multiplied many times over, while new genres, techniques and media have been incorporated. In addition, the scope of the museum’s collections, both international and national, has changed, expanding to new cultural-geographical regions (South-Eastern Europe) and countries (e.g. Albania, Kosovo, Ukraine, etc.), as has the range of artists represented.

Big Bang is thus a metaphor to describe and characterise the building of a collection from its origins (foundation).

The collection in numbers:

• number of works: 1,062
• number of artists: 498
• nationalities: 23
• technique/medium: ND
• time span (from to): 1957–2025
• focus in time: 70s, 90s

Exhibiting Artists:

A-ONE, Georg BASELITZ, BORI Bálint, Joseph BEUYS, BUKTA Imre, Mamuka CECHLADZE, David CSICSKAN, CSÖRGŐ Attila, DAZE, Hervé DI ROSA, DROZDIK Orshi, ELEKES Károly, EL-HASSAN Róza, Richard ESTES, FEHÉR László, Nat FINKELSTEIN, Andreas FOGARASI, FODOR János,Futura 2000, Gérard GASIOROWSKI, Sighard GILLE, Ion GRIGORESCU, GOSZTOLA Kitti, GULYÁS Gyula, HALÁSZ Péter Tamás, Flaka HALITI, Paul HARRIS, HAWADTŐY Sámuel, HERSKO Judit, Jenny HOLZER, HORVÁTH Gideon, OTO HUDEC, Ben JAKOBER, NYÁRI István, Jefhen NYIKIFOROV, Jiri DAVID, KICSINY Balázs, KISPÁL Szabolcs, KORTMANN-JÁRAY Katalin, LADY PINK, LAKNER Antal, LAKNER László, Jean-Jacques LEBEL, Roy LICHTENSTEIN, LLRRLLRR, LOVAS Ilona, David MALJKOVIC, MÉHES László, Antonio MUNTADAS, NAGY Imre, NEMES Csaba, NEMES Márton, NOC 167, PAUER Gyula, PENCK A.R., Uwe PEIFFER, A. Ny. PETROV, Pablo PICASSO, PINTÉR Gábor, Konrad SMOLENSKI, ST.AUBY, Mladen STILINOVIC, Volker STELZMANN, SUGÁR János, SZABÓ Ágnes, Joe TILSON, Jean TINGUELY, TOXIC, TRANKER Kata, VETŐ János, VU Yannick, Andy WARHOL, Wolf VOSTELL

Curator: József KÉSZMAN