The Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA) opened 2016 as Germany's first museum for urban art. It was founded by the Collector couple Stephanie and Christian Utz.
After a year of renovation work, the MUCA has transformed a Former transformer station and a neighbouring air raid shelter from the Second World War into exhibition spaces for urban and contemporary art.
The façade of the building opposite is also part of the overall ensemble and, as a MUCA Giant Wall changing, large-scale outdoor art projects. These have already included works by renowned artists such as Said Dokins, JR and Damien Hirst.
The MUCA has made it its mission to develop urban Integrating art into the contemporary art discourse and exhibit the most famous artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Since its inception, the MUCA has become a leading authority in collection development, with the Focuses on significant works by artists who are known for using the urban landscape as part of their practice.
The MUCA's permanent collection began in 1998 and offers more than a quarter of a century of insights into the history of the MUCA. most important representatives of contemporary art of the 21st century. The collection now comprises over 1,200 objects and works by artists from the fields of urban and contemporary art. In the Anniversary exhibition "25 Years selected exhibits from the MUCA collection were on display. Parts of the collection are currently on a major tour of Asia and, after Japan, can also be admired in Korea.
The core collection includes artists who became known in the 2000s. Back then, many of these artists were up-and-coming newcomers. Today, we can say with great pride that they are established, international figures in the contemporary art world. They are first and foremost Artists known for utilising the urban landscape as part of their working process. Our long-standing passion for collecting and unique position has enabled us to exhibit works from this seismic movement that has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world.
Since the museum's beginnings, it has always been Our aim is to share the collection with the public. On the one hand on site in exhibitions and on the other hand on our website with a virtual insight into selected works.
After several years of continued success and private funding, the MUCA Foundation as a charitable foundation
established. The MUCA Foundation acts as the "sponsor" of the museum and collection work, including the exhibition programme and accompanying programme such as Artist and expert talks, readings, guided tours and workshops.
The The main aim of the foundation is to expand and secure a high-quality exhibition programme with inspiring projects that enrich the state-funded art scene in Munich. After building relationships with other institutions and museums, we have expanded our remit to include collaboration with our international partners to promote MUCA's presence in new territories.
Further aims of the foundation are to inscribe street and urban art in art history and to establish this genre in an overarching cultural network. The foundation also focuses on promoting and supporting art projects.
The MUCA has become an important "figurehead" for art in Munich. As such The MUCA Foundation strengthens Germany as a creative location and continue to enter into alliances with cultural institutions, artists, the business community and municipal partners.
The Exhibition "Icons of Urban Art"which celebrated its premiere in Munich in 2020, is the centrepiece of the MUCA collection and is supported by leading
Museums coveted worldwide. The MUCA has therefore decided to send its own collection on tour.
Japan made the start in 2023 and 2024. Three stops at the most prestigious theatres in Oita, Kyoto and Tokyo have attracted over a quarter of a million visitors. The Tour "MUCA goes Japan"began in the summer of 2023 at the Oita Art Museum, then made a guest appearance at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art and had its final stop at the Mori Arts Centre Gallery in Japan's vibrant capital.
Japanese star actor Koshi Mizukami was recruited as an official ambassador for the exhibition in Tokyo. He commented on the audio guide to the works exclusively for the exhibition at the Mori Arts Centre Gallery.
And the journey continues: The exhibition opened in Seoul (South Korea) in October 2024. Over 80 iconic masterpieces from the MUCA collection will be on display at the Chungmu Art Centre until the beginning of February 2025. The centrepiece is ten internationally recognised artists and pioneers of urban art: Banksy, Barry McGee, Invader, JR, Kaws, Os Gemeos, Richard Hambleton, Shepard Fairey, Swoon and Vhils. Exhibits include the world-famous "Vandalised Phone Box" by Banksy.
The bunker right next to the MUCA main building has been part of the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art since 2019.
The history of the bunker in Hotterstraße in Munich dates back to 1941. Since the end of the war, the space of the former air raid shelter has been used in a variety of ways, as a shelter for the homeless, a hotel and, from 2012, even briefly as the "Herr Hotter" discotheque.
MUCA has been staging this characteristic building in new ways since 2019 and brought to life with modern installations and works of art:
From the end of October 2023 to the end of January 2024, the bunker became a cultural treasure trove of a very special kind. As part of the big Damien Hirst solo show in the MUCA was the work of art "For the Love of God (2007)" issued.
For almost a year from October 2022, the MUCA presented the City Lights" exhibition by the Dutch tape art artist Max Zorn in the MUCA bunker.
Prior to this, the characteristic bunker building was renovated with modern installations, graffiti and elaborate murals in a joint exhibition of the artists L.E.T., ZEUS, STOHEAD, WANDAL, MINA MANIA, LADY AIKO, SWOON and VHILS reinterpreted. This turned the bunker into a kind of historical overview of the development of street art, allowing visitors to explore the path of an urban and modern art form in Munich and around the world.
