The MKM —
From the grain silo
to the museum
Works by artists from Anselm Kiefer to Gerhard Richter, a diverse exhibition programme and striking architecture between industrial monument and white cube – welcome to the MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst.
The house in Duisburg’s lively inner harbour is one of Germany’s largest private museums (Ströher Collection) and belongs to the RuhrKunstMuseen network. The Swiss star architects Herzog & de Meuron have transformed the former warehouse building with its listed brick façade into a modern cultural building that attracts architecture fans from all over the world.
The Ströher Collection
Highlights from the Ströher Collection, one of the most important and extensive collections of German art after 1945, can be seen at the MKM on a good 6,100sqm. The focus is on painting. The collection comprises central positions of art development in Germany, from the immediate post-war period to the present.
1950 until today
The MKM currently houses works and entire Groups of works from the following Collection artists on view: Afro, Josef Albers, Jean Arp, Willi Baumeister, Peter Brüning, Alberto Burri, Rafael Canogar, Michael Croissant, Karl Fred Dahmen, Jean Dubuffet, Adolf Richard Fleischmann, Rupprecht Geiger, Karl Otto Götz, Otto Herbert Hajek, Hans Hartung, Bernhard Heiliger, Gerhard Hoehme, Anselm Kiefer, Norbert Kricke, Georges Mathieu, Brigitte und Martin Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Manolo Millares, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Otto Ritschl, Giuseppe Santomaso, Antonio Saura, Bernard Schultze, Emil Schumacher, Jaroslav Serpan, K.R.H. Sonderborg, Pierre Soulages, Antoni Tàpies, Fred Thieler, Hann Trier, Hans Uhlmann, Emilio Vedova, Maria Helena Vieira Da Silva, Fritz Winter und Wols.
More than 300 works since the 1950s are on display.
The MKM —
Cultural core since 1865
The MKM is a striking 19th century industrial monument that was built as a mill in its day and operated as such for over 100 years (until its closure in 1972). Based on the master plan developed by British architect Sir Norman Foster, the former industrial wasteland of Duisburg’s inner harbour was transformed into a multifunctional service area on the waterfront – with office and residential space, gastronomy, cultural and leisure facilities – as part of the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition (1989-1999). The “old Küppersmühle” became the MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art.
As with the conversion of the historic Küppersmühle into a museum (1999), Herzog & de Meuron took their cue from the existing MKM and the architecture of the inner harbour. Two structures of different heights continue the existing museum building and combine to form a new head building that harmoniously closes off the entire row of buildings on the harbour basin. The new building with its striking red brick façade leads into a square with 35 newly planted plane trees – a green oasis in the city.
Characteristic features are the continuous white walls up to 6 m high, the floor made of grey Turkish basalt and the sequence of spacious room areas. The only connection to the outside world are floor-to-ceiling window slits set into the listed façade.
In the course of the extension, the historic silos were also opened up and integrated into the building. Here bridges are created in the 1st and 2nd floor the connection between the new and the already existing rooms. The silos themselves will be preserved as industrial monuments, both in terms of their external appearance and their largely original materiality. A platform on top of the silos, which can be accessed depending on the season and weather conditions, offers a wide view over the Ruhr region.
Silos and
Viewing platform
In the course of the extension, the historic silos were also opened up and integrated into the building. Here bridges are created in the 1st and 2nd floor the connection between the new and the already existing rooms. The silos themselves will be preserved as industrial monuments, both in terms of their external appearance and their largely original materiality. A platform on top of the silos, which can be accessed depending on the season and weather conditions, offers a wide view over the Ruhr region.
MKM extension, silo platform (simulation), © Herzog & de Meuron
“The planned extension joins the chain of impressive historic brick buildings along the harbour basin and thus completes the existing museum complex. At the same time, the new head building defines the conclusion of the entire row of buildings along the harbour basin. The new project is an integrated and complementary architecture.”
Herzog & de Meuron, 2021
In addition, the silos were provided with a viewing terrace and thus made accessible to visitors for the first time.
The project was made possible by the commitment of the private MKM Foundation, founded by the collectors Sylvia and Ulrich Ströher.
Look at the
current exhibitions
Karin Kneffel – Come in, Look out
The Haniel Collection – Distinctly Unique
