Mission Statement

Exhibiting and Communicating International Art — with Love and Enthusiasm


Kunstpalais is the museum for international contemporary art of the City of Erlangen — with supraregional charisma and great attention to regional mediation.
The team of Kunstpalais has made it its mission to find the most avantgarde, explosive and fruitful positions and bring them to Erlangen. We want to pass on our enthusiasm to the visitors and convey the important social tasks and potentials of art. We want to present innovative thought-provoking and comprehensively moving aesthetic experiences. And it is important to us to promote tolerance and intellectual freedom, controversial discourse, and open social exchange. With this in mind, we screen the global art world and offer people the opportunity to look at significant works of contemporary art in Erlangen. We make art a first hand experience. Sensually and intellectually in equal measure.

See what has never been seen before

In four to six temporary exhibitions per year, we show a diverse program with clearly defined focal points on about 500 sqm of exhibition space in Kunstpalais.

For the solo exhibitions, it is our stated objective to enable artists to take the important step of their first institutional solo exhibition or to organize their first major presentation in Germany or in Europe. While doing so, we are always keen to provide an ample space for the latest developments in the work of the respective artist, to enable the production of new works and to develop presentations for the spaces together with the artist.

For our theme-based group exhibitions we trace socially relevant topics and their response in contemporary art. How do artists address issues such as family diversity, the environment, or the use of banned substances? The various artistic reflections on these topics trigger new discussions and perspectives. By directly linking thematic focal points to everyday experiences and observations of all visitors, group exhibitions like these offer both the curious first-time visitor as well as the seasoned art connoisseur their own, direct access to the works on display. The Municipal Art Collection, our ever-growing treasure trove, also plays a prominent role in the conception of our group exhibitions time and again.

With individually designed catalogs and artist books, which we publish on the occasion of many solo and group exhibitions, we preserve the new for the future and provide even deeper insight. Here, too, we work closely with the artists and include texts by remarkable contemporary authors and researchers.

Open and enriching — for everybody

As a place that is open to and can be experienced by all visitors regardless of age, origin, religion, and education, we offer not only classic guided tours, but also a whole series of workshops and events that are attended to arouse curiosity to explore contemporary art, encourage joint exchange, provide impetus, and boost one’s own creativity, and individual skills.

Numerous collaborations with other cultural and educational institutions in Erlangen and the region further embed the museum in the local cultural life. And to ensure that the art to which we are dedicated can also be understood, experienced, and approached from afar, we are constantly expanding our mediation with a variety of digital educational offerings.

Art can be a great intellectual enrichment and wonderful entertainment at the same time. Art invites debate, enjoyment, reflection, and discovery. As the team of Kunstpalais, we are certain that art has meaning for everyone.

And we work with joy to convey exactly that.