MUNICH.- What happens when artists place children at the centre of their process? From 18 July 2025 to 1 February 2026, Haus der Kunst pursues this question with the group exhibition “For Children. Art Stories since 1968”. As exhibition highlight of the year, “For Children” presents works specifi- cally created for children and young adults from 1968 to the present and extends across various indoor and outdoor spaces of the building. It explores universal topics – such as humanity, society, politics, economics, ecology, technology, and the future – that we first encounter as children and that continue to resonate in adulthood. While the works primarily address children, these fundamental subjects invite visitors of all ages to engage in an intergenerational dialogue.
The exhibition inhabits different spaces within the building and is conceived as a three-part exhibition. The Archive Galerie shows the historical starting point of the project and highlights the activities of the KEKS group, which emerged in the 1960s, while two large installations frame the group show and open the space to the public sphere. The artist Ei Arakawa-Nash, inspired by the legacy of the avant-garde group Gutai, invites visitors to draw on the museum floor in his interactive installation. While artist KOO JEONG A opens the building to the Eisbach River and the English Garden with a skateable sculpture.
Until the mid-20th century, artworks for children primarily involved designing toys, building sets, and children's furniture. However, from the late 1950s onwards, artists around the world began to create works that invited children to collaborate, treated them as equal and capable recipients, and encouraged autonomy and responsibility for their own actions. The exhibition follows this mindset and raises questions such as: “What is today’s understanding of childhood?” and “How can children actively participate in world affairs and help shape the reality in which they will live as adults?”
The exhibition connects to our previous show, “Inside other Spaces. Environments by Women Artists 1956–76,” and highlights the influence of newly developed art forms, such as the “environment,” on subsequent generations of artists. The exhibition continues the future-oriented approach of Haus der Kunst by challenging traditional narratives and the canon, while taking a step towards new ways of exhibition making, from display to interpretation.
Artists included amongst others KOO JEONG A, Agus Nur Amal PMTOH, Ei Arakawa Nash, Tarek Atoui, Yto Barrada, Antoine Catala, Neha Choksi, DIS, Olafur Eliasson, Harun Farocki, Emily Floyd, Jan Peter Hammer, KEKS, Eva Koťátková, Basim Magdy, Ana Mendieta, Meredith Monk, Bruce Nauman, Ernesto Neto, Rivane Neuenschwander, Lygia Pape, Rachel Rose, Afrah Shafiq and Tromarama
Curated by Andrea Lissoni, Emma Enderby, Lydia Korndörfer, Xue Tan with Lydia Antoniou, Laila Wu, as well as Sabine Brantl (Archive), Pia Linden and Camille Latreille (Learning and Engagement).
