Art and innovation at the heart of Munich

As part of this year’s celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the signing of the European Patent Convention, the European Patent Office (EPO for the first time opened its headquarters on the banks of the river Isar to the public during last Saturday’s Long Night of Munich Museums. The highlight of the special evening programme was the public inauguration of the EPO’s new Culture Space, A&T 5-10. From the basement to the top floor, almost 1 200 visitors gained fascinating insights behind the scenes during guided tours of our contemporary art collection and the listed building itself, created between 1976 and 1980 by the renowned architects von Gerkan, Marg & Partner. 

A&T 5-10 public inauguration: From the European Patent Journey to the Catalyst Lab

Before the evening programme commenced at the EPO, children’s workshops in the afternoon offered young artists the opportunity to create their own artworks inspired by the materials and exhibits they saw during a sneak preview of our new Culture Space, named A&T 5-10. Its official opening to the public followed the redesign of an area of around 3 000 m2 in the EPO headquarters’ basement, which used to house central facilities for printing, file storage and office supplies. This was made possible in part by the digitalisation of the patent granting process, a central pillar of the EPO’s broader digital and ecological transformation.

After almost two years of revitalisation, highlights include a permanent exhibition on the history and architecture of the EPO. Pascal Griset, Professor of Modern History at the University of Sorbonne, took the lead in creating this exhibition, entitled The European Patent Journey, which explores the role of patents throughout history as well as the emergence of the European patent system as an element of the European integration process with the EPO at its heart.

Further highlights include an artist’s studio with new acquisitions of works by emerging Estonian and Ukrainian female artists, an area devoted to hi-tech immersive projects and site-specific commissioned works, as well as a coworking space for staff and a bar designed by South Tyrolean artist Esther Stocker. Another key new feature is the presentation of works from the EPO art collection in an innovative new open storage area and a special exhibition on the theme of art and climate change.

Finally, in the former patent file archive, an expert team from Ars electronica, Linz, created the Catalyst Lab & Deep Vision. Here, amid thousands of old paper files, ten media art installations deal with some of society’s most pressing issues and open questions about the future, including those surrounding Big Data and artificial intelligence, climate technologies, the human impact on the world's oceans, sustainable material production and the potential of expanding human civilisation into Space.

Visitors took visible pleasure in both leafing through the old files and exploring the artistic and historical perspectives presented to them by the guides. The demand for information and explanation was enormous, as all guided tours explaining the art and architecture of the building as well as recounting the history of patents and the EPO were fully booked.

Stay Tuned!

The EPO is currently working on plans to make A&T 5-10 accessible to the public and will provide updates on possible visiting times in due course.

Fotos: © Wolfgang Stahl / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023