28/03/2026—03/01/2027

Once a year, the Kunstkammer Contemporary is reorganized. Each time, a central keyword serves as the guiding principle for selecting works from the contemporary collections of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. The current exhibition is dedicated to the term abstraction. Abstraction can be considered the first major liberation in 20th-century visual art. However, the works on display here are not about artistic creation entirely devoid of the figurative reference, but rather show the process in itself.

You are looking at works that explore the many different paths of abstraction. Their reference to the world of objects remains visible. Some works play with references back to figuration, while others leave us wondering whether they are art or rather utilitarian objects of unclear purpose. Yet others, such utilitarian objects — water taps, rubber hoses, or caviar — are used to create abstract compositions. Some works employ the method of cartography to create an abstract representation of the concrete world, be it bodies, a city, or processes.

Featuring works by Birgit Dieker, Markus Draper, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragest, Isa Genzken, Ulrike Grossarth, Keith Haring, Georg Herold, Olaf Holzapfel, Franka Hörnschemeyer, Gerd Jäger, Taemen Jung, Stephanie Kiwitt, Julie Mehretu, Jana Morgenstern, Lisa Pahlke, Karen Packebusch, Sigmar Polke, Sarah Pschorn, Simon Rübesamen, Thomas Scheibitz, Su-Ran Sichling, Wolfgang Smy, André Tempel, Jorinde Voigt, Christopher Wool.

Residenzschloss Dresden (Royal Palace)

Taschenberg 2
01067 Dresden