The German Contemporary Art Medal

Exhibition of the Münzkabinetts, Hausmannsturm, Residenzschloss (Royal Palace)
March 26 to October 31, 2011

For about the past 20 years, medallic art in Germany has undergone an
interesting development. It is characterised by new forms of expression,
artistic experimentation, diversity of materials and a broad spectrum of
themes. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medaillenkunst (German Society for
Medallic Art), of which the Dresden Münzkabinett has been a member
since the Society’s foundation in 1991, is successfully fostering medallic
art in Germany. In addition, Germany regularly submits a selection of the
best works for display in the world expositions of the Fédération Internationale
de la Médaille d’Art (FIDEM). As the expositions organised over the
past two decades have shown, Germany has advanced to become one of
the leading nations in medallic art in terms of the quality and quantity of
the works selected.

The exhibition “Die deutsche Kunstmedaille der Gegenwart” (The German Contemporary Art Medal) focuses particularly on the
German contributions to the FIDEM expositions in Colorado Springs (USA)
in 2007 and in Tampere (Finland) in 2010, these works being supplemented
by other important art medals created in recent years. A total of around
150 medals by more than 50 artists from all over Germany are on show,
with the regions of Halle, Berlin, Dresden, Cologne and Munich playing an
outstanding role as centres of contemporary medallic art. Attention is
especially drawn to the remarkable way in which artists working in this
genre have taken up social and sociocritical themes.