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| Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary | |
|---|---|
| Name | Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary |
| Established | 2002 |
| Location | Vienna; Madrid; Capri |
| Type | Contemporary art collection and foundation |
| Founder | Lothar von Faber-Castell; Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (family legacy) |
| Director | Günther Ziegler; Ursula Krinzinger |
| Collection size | approx. 500 artists |
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary is a private foundation and collection focused on contemporary art formed in the early 21st century with roots in the Thyssen-Bornemisza family holdings and European collecting traditions. It operates across multiple sites and partnerships in Vienna, Madrid, and international venues, collaborating with museums, biennials, galleries, and cultural institutions to commission, acquire, and exhibit works by leading and emerging artists. The foundation's activities link to major figures and organizations in contemporary art practice, curatorial networks, and public art initiatives.
The foundation was established amid dialogues that involved collectors and institutions such as Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, Fondazione Prada, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Museum of Modern Art, and Tate Modern. Early initiatives included commissions and acquisitions connected with artists like Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and Bill Viola, and partnerships with events including the Venice Biennale, Documenta, Art Basel, and the Whitney Biennial. Collaborations extended to collectors and patrons such as Peggy Guggenheim, Paul Mellon, Doris Duke, Saul Steinberg, and institutions like Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, The J. Paul Getty Trust, and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
The collection emphasizes post-1960 art, holding works by artists including Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Joseph Beuys, Marina Abramović, Louise Bourgeois, Claes Oldenburg, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Doris Salcedo, Elmgreen & Dragset, Kader Attia, Thomas Hirschhorn, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley, Ai Weiwei, Zhang Huan, Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama, Kiki Smith, Sean Scully, Anselm Kiefer, Paul McCarthy, Ellen Gallagher, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Shirin Neshat, Sonia Boyce, Kara Walker, Olafur Eliasson, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Saville, Tracey Emin, Rachel Whiteread, Gillian Wearing, Tacita Dean, Olafur Eliasson, Roni Horn, James Turrell, and Lawrence Weiner. Holdings include painting, sculpture, installation, video art, performance documentation, and large-scale public commissions connected with entities such as UNESCO and municipal programs in Vienna and Madrid.
Exhibitions have been presented in collaboration with Kunsthalle, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Palazzo Grassi, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Palacio de Velázquez, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Kunstverein, ICA London, Serpentine Galleries, Hamburger Bahnhof, Haus der Kunst, MAXXI, Dia Art Foundation, and international biennials such as the São Paulo Art Biennial and Sydney Biennale. Programs include site-specific commissions, retrospectives, thematic group shows, and performance series featuring artists like Tania Bruguera, Goshka Macuga, William Kentridge, Sherrie Levine, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, often in partnership with curators from Harvard Art Museums, Courtauld Institute of Art, Columbia University, Yale School of Art, and Goldsmiths, University of London.
Curators associated with the foundation have included professionals linked to ZKM, MoMA PS1, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Tate Modern, Van Abbemuseum, Centre Pompidou, Hamburger Bahnhof, Serpentine, Whitechapel Gallery, and university programs at Columbia University and Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien. The acquisition strategy prioritizes emerging and mid-career artists, interdisciplinary practices, and works that address urbanism, memory, migration, and technology, engaging names such as Hito Steyerl, Sarah Lucas, Kyun-Chang, Doris Salcedo, Antony Gormley, Ed Atkins, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Ian Cheng. Commissions often involve collaboration with public art programs in Vienna and Madrid, private foundations like Kramer and Haworth Trust, and collectors including Eli Broad and Roman Abramovich.
Educational initiatives include partnerships with academic institutions such as Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universität Wien, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and New York University, artist residencies linked to Iaspis, Cité internationale des arts, and catalogues produced with publishers like Thames & Hudson, Hatje Cantz, Phaidon Press, Skira, and Rizzoli. Outreach projects have collaborated with municipal cultural offices in Madrid and Vienna, youth workshops with UNICEF local programs, symposiums featuring speakers from Tate Modern, MOMA, SFMOMA, LACMA, and conservation efforts with Getty Conservation Institute and ICCROM.
Governance is organized through a board with members tied to European collecting families and advisors from institutions such as Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, Reina Sofía, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, and private philanthropists like Doris Duke Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Funding sources include endowed family funds, acquisition budgets from private donors including Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, project grants from cultural ministries of Austria and Spain, sponsorships with corporations like Siemens and Telefonica, and partnerships with foundations such as Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Bezos Family Foundation.
Facilities associated with the foundation span exhibition spaces and storage in Vienna and satellite projects in Madrid and Capri, and collaborations with venues including Palacio de Cristal, Kunsthaus Graz, Belvedere, Alcalá de Henares, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and international loan agreements with National Gallery of Art, Louvre, Rijksmuseum, Hermitage Museum, Prado Museum, and Museo Reina Sofía. Conservation and logistics are coordinated with specialist firms and museums including Tate Conservation, National Trust, Smithsonian Institution, and the Getty Conservation Institute.
Category:Contemporary art foundations