Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (nGbK)

Become a member 

At nGbK members meet like-minded people to exchange ideas, to develop and realize projects and in order to learn and benefit from each other – among them are many young people interested in culture and politics. Topics are discussed and decisions made at regular meetings in a process of direct exchange, which is transparent and inclusive of all opinions. This method of working has provided the basis for a successful programme since 1969.
Would you like to become involved in developing the exhibition programme, to join in discussions, or perhaps you would even like to take an active part in implementing a project at nGbK? Then become a member! Visit our website to learn all about the way we are organized and about the unique grass-roots democratic structure of this art society. Our archive reflects a policy towards the arts which has for more than 40 years been located at the very interface between social issues and artistic strategies.

Anyone becoming a member of the nGbK can
  directly take part, bring in their own ideas and in addition receive:
- invitations to all nGbK openings and events
- free admission (insofar as entrance fees are charged)
- all nGbK publications at the reduced rate for members
- free admission to the exhibitions of art societies which are members
  of the Association of German Art Societies (ADKV)
- invitations to the meetings where new projects of nGbK are
  introduced and discussed
- reduced rates for art society excursions and other activities

If you would like to become a member, please feel free to call us or write:  + 49 - (0) 30 - 616513 - 0, nGbK@nGbK.de, www.nGbK.de

Stage projects

The programme of the nGbK is thought up and implemented by the members themselves. Working in teams of at least five they design projects. After a discussion process open to everyone interested the membership as a whole then decides jointly on which project ideas are to be funded and realized. In general one finds that it is exhibition projects addressing current social issues and that question particular aspects of contemporary art production and presentation which find support from the art society’s grass roots, and are as a result particularly characteristic for the nGbK programme.
People from different fields and professions come together in the teams. They cooperate together to work on the challenges they have set themselves, addressing the issues from different perspectives, adopting positions and developing appropriate forms of presentation. In their variety of abilities and interests they complement each other, and can rely on the support provided by the staff of the nGbK office. Some team members are experienced in curatorial practice, others gain experience in the process. Participating in an nGbK project is always a testing ground for individual ideas, which – at a later stage – find wider support. It should also be added that the curatorial teams at many cultural institutions in Germany today include people who gained their first experience at the nGbK.

The nGbK is an open house. The work of the art society is transparent. Guests are welcome at all meetings of the membership; its exhibitions and events are free. nGbK projects address important social issues and seek to make a substantive contribution, to provide forums for debate and to deepen knowledge. As a matter of principle, the exhibitions and events are open to all.
The nGbK programme is characterized by issues that move society; it can thus act as a kind of (cultural) policy seismograph. In the process subjects regarded as being taboo are broached again and again, testing to see what artistic strategies can achieve. For many, the nGbK provides a suitable platform for experimentation, a place for the realization of ideas and part of a public network at which to test the political efficacy of art.