General about the contemporary art in Admont

Since 1997 Admont Monastery has been steadily building up a collection of contemporary art. At present it contains some 350 works by over 130 mainly Austrian artists of the younger and middle generations.

This continuously growing collection is composed of two parts: acquisitions and commissions. Under the “MADE FOR ADMONT” programmes artists are invited to the Monastery. On the basis of discussions with the monks and the Cultural Department and of life in the Monastery ideas for art works with a direct relationship to the place are developed, most of them are then realized, bought and exhibited.

The resulting works of art give the Admont Monastery collection its quite specific character. In recent years a number of artists (Rudi Molacek, Lois Renner, Erwin Wurm) have been invited to create for Admont Monastery important series especially in the field of photo art.

The collection also contains larger works by selected artists such as the “Monsignore Otto Mauer” prizewinner Alfred Klinkan (1950-1994) or the generous gift of graphics and paintings by the Styrian Hannes Schwarz (b. 1936). Specific exhibition rooms also offer the artists represented in the collection the opportunity for personal exhibitions.