The »living museum« makes no distinction between permanent collection and temporary exhibition. Instead, it utilizes the flowing quality of the architecture, working with possibilities afforded by the concurrence and juxtaposition that characterize Peter Zumthor’s building. By altering the exhibition several times over the course of the year, Kolumba largely displays its own collection in changing contexts. Apart from a very few major works, which were created as site-specific pieces or those which are always in place as signature pieces of the museum, each year a new selection of works is introduced on September 15. Special exhibitions and artistic interventions supplement and change the context of this collection presentation. Characteristic of the almost private ambience are the absence of object labels as well as the interconnection of the works in a manner that is independent of their chronological, stylistic, or media relationships. The way the works are displayed always strives to achieve presence for the works of art.

Art museum of the
Archdiocese of Cologne