Looking back on a one-year record of the well-received Volkswagen Art4All format, Volkswagen and Neue Nationalgalerie are now extending their free entry visitors’ program. Starting this week, the renowned museum and its collection can be visited for free every Thursday. On a weekly basis, the museum opens its doors Thursdays between 4 and 8 p.m. for the Volkswagen Art4All hours.
The iconic building of the Neue Nationalgalerie sits just a block away from the Potsdamer Platz in the heart of Berlin. Originally designed by Mies van der Rohe and extensively renovated during the recent years, the museum reopened in 2021 and has become again home of one of the world’s most precious collections of twentieth-century art. As a new opportunity, the Volkswagen Art4All program now enables the museum to open presentations of its collection and special exhibitions for free every week. Starting on January 5, guests are being offered free access and free guided tours every Thursday between 4 and 8 p.m.
Klaus Biesenbach, Director of Neue Nationalgalerie: „Art is an essential need for people in our society. With the help of our free opening hours, we ensure that everybody can experience art. Every Thursday between 4 and 8 p.m. art is free for all! We would like to thank our partner Volkswagen for creating that opportunity.”
Benita von Maltzahn, Head of Live Communications and Global Cultural Engagement at Volkswagen, adds: “Since 2018, Volkswagen Art4All has been representing an example of our corporate commitment to supporting free access to art and culture.We feel responsible for our future, and we know that it takes innovation and communication to strengthen our society. Creativity is where this starts and therefore we support initiatives that enable many people to engage with culture and the arts.”
The Volkswagen Art4All program is a vital element of Volkswagen’s global engagement as partner of culture and the arts. In 2018, the visitor program was firstly launched at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart as part of the multi-year partnership with Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin which was agreed in 2012. Since 2020, the Volkswagen Art4All format has been successfully implemented at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. Free access to exhibitions and free visitor tours are the two key principles of this program. Supported by Volkswagen, all three museums are going to continue the Volkswagen Art4All program in 2023. The idea of free access has also been adapted to further projects and partnerships: In 2022, 14,000 free Volkswagen Art4All tickets were issued to young students from the Kassel region allowing them to experience the documenta, the world’s most influential art exhibition.
Acting as a trusted partner of museums and fostering the Volkswagen Art4All program create the framework for Volkswagen’s international work in the cultural sphere. By supporting artists, institutions and projects, Volkswagen helps to develop encounters between people and the world of art. This is led by the belief that the widest possible audience should have the chance to engage with creative ideas and works. This leads to new perspectives which ultimately open the road to progress, innovation, respect and tolerance within our society.