The Focus Year 2026

Local and international artists explore how we communicate with our surroundings, how we interact with them, and how we ourselves become effective within them. The aim is to take the time to rediscover the public space as a place where many things are possible, inviting us to broaden our horizons and bring people together. The Focus Year brings six art projects into the urban space that highlight very different aspects of the public sphere.

The themes were set by the artists themselves and are as diverse as the urban landscape itself. The themes are set by the artists themselves and are as multifaceted as the urban landscape itself. The topics range from the visible and invisible water cycles of the Isar and the city’s drinking water supply, trees as carriers of stories and memories, forms of self-empowered remembrance of right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence in Munich, outdoor swimming pools as sites of social conflict, activism in football to the history and origins of sign language in global and historical contexts.

The Public Art Excursions also invite visitors to artistic performances by Munich artists throughout the city. In addition, young artists from the performance class at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich (AdBK München) will focus on invisible or hidden aspects and dynamics of the city’s social fabric with »Invisible City,« curated by Alexandra Pirici. The billboard, the large art poster wall, will be unveiled at its new location in Neuperlach.