LBBW Collection

Collaborations – The Art of Collaboration

The joint creation of art is firmly rooted in art history. Whether in the monastic workshops of the Middle Ages or in the artists’ studios of the Renaissance – in most cases, many hands worked together on a single piece. In the 20th century, with duos such as Fischli and Weiss or artist couples such as Bernd and Hilla Becher, collaborative art-making established itself as an art form in its own right. In such cases, authorship is clearly shared. Alongside long-term collaborations in duos, trios, artist groups or collectives, there are also temporary partnerships between colleagues, or between artists and experts or laypeople, which last only for the duration of a single work.

This spectrum of artistic collaboration is explored in the exhibition through selected works from the LBBW Collection. This raises the question: what new perspectives emerge when ideas and skills come together? Whilst the brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias have been developing their hybrid, individual style in the medium of printmaking together for over twenty years, Rirkrit Tiravanija invites visitors to his installation ‘untitled (café deutschland)’ to join him for a coffee for the duration of the exhibition, thereby giving them the opportunity and space to engage in conversation.

The LBBW Collection also relies on strong partnerships to make art accessible to the public, whether through collaborations with museums – such as the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart or the Kunsthalle Mannheim, which have permanent access to the works in the collection – or through joint projects such as the exhibition ‘IT’S A MATCH! Art Connects Baden-Württemberg’ featuring works from corporate collections in Baden-Württemberg, which will take place at the Schauwerk Sindelfingen in autumn 2027.

Featuring works by: ABR Collective, AtelierJAK, Gert and Uwe Tobias, Troika, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Henry Bond and Liam Gillick, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Christian Jankowski, General Idea, Gillian Wearing, Sophia Süßmilch, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Ivana de Vivanco and others.

With more than 3,000 works, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) owns one of Germany's largest corporate collections of modern and contemporary art. Since its inception, the collection has been seen as part of the bank's cultural commitment and a visible demonstration of its social responsibility.

It spans more than fifty years of collecting and brings together national and international artistic positions. Today, the focus is on works created in Germany or by German artists within the last decade. The collection is open to all media: paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, media art and installations reflect the diversity of contemporary art production.

Thematically, the collection focuses on socially relevant issues of our time. These include topics such as globalisation, economisation, digitalisation, identity, nature and the environment. The collection thus offers a platform for discourse – both within the company itself and with the public.

Through thematically conceived trade fair presentations, the bank aims to actively engage in dialogue with the public – and at the same time make a social contribution to cultural education.