Cultural Engagement

A person with long black hair takes a photo with a smartphone of an exhibition with artworks on the wall.

With its support for culture and the arts, the Volkswagen Group takes responsibility for tomorrow. Because future is being shaped when creativity unfolds. As a global and socially responsible company, we translate this belief into action around the world. In the frame of long-term partnerships and sustainable collaborations, we partner with artists, cultural visionaries and internationally leading institutions to help that an even larger audience gets inspired and encouraged by creative works and ideas.

Artists Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu together with curator Kathleen Reinhardt.

German Pavilion at the 61st Biennale Arte di Venezia: Education Program

As a partner of the German contribution to the 61st Biennale Arte di Venezia, the Volkswagen Group is placing special emphasis on the Education Program and focusing its support on initiatives designed to communicate the artistic content to a broad audience. The perspectives presented at this significant international cultural event are received and reflected worldwide, contributing to valuable social discourse. The goal is to provide access to as many visitors as possible and encourage active engagement with key questions about the future. This collaboration is part of the Volkswagen Group’s international cultural engagement.

Massive stone building with columns and a symmetrical facade. — The German Pavilion at the Biennale Arte di Venezia.

Culture for everyone: Volkswagen Group Art4All

We have initiated “Volkswagen Group Art4All” to open the world of culture and the arts for a broad audience. The result is an exhilarating program developed by our partners in Berlin, Wolfsburg and Emden: Every first Thursday of the month between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin opens for free with an additional program. At ‚Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin Volkswagen Group supports as ‚Lead Partner of Education“ several ‚Volkswagen Group Art4All‘ programs – making art and culture accessible to everyone. From 4 p.m. onwards on every last Wednesday of a month, guests of the Kunstmuseum in Wolfsburg benefit from free access along with guided tours, workshops or film screenings. For the 40^th anniversary of the Kunsthalle Emden, the Volkswagen Group is supporting through the ‘Volkswagen Group Art4All – Tide Tied’* project by offering special opening hours and free admission.

*‘Tide Tied’ is the East Frisian translation for ‘tide time.’

Volkswagen Group Art4All

Chemnitz: European Capital of Culture 2025

Group photo in front of the cultural center in Chemnitz with two Volkswagen ID.4 vehicles promoting the "The Unseen" campaign. — (from left to right) Lars-Eric Schuldt, Spokesman Culture & Society Volkswagen Group, Franziska Fischer, Site Manager Volkswagen Motorenwerk Chemnitz, Sven Schulze, Lord Mayor of the City of Chemnitz and Andrea Pier, Commercial Director Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH.

Together with 38 municipalities from the Ore Mountains, Central Saxony and the Zwickau region, Chemnitz bore the title of 'European Capital of Culture' in 2025. The Volkswagen Group supported Chemnitz 2025 as an important major project at its company location in Saxony and supported the diverse cultural and adventure program for a year.

Chemnitz European Capital of Culture 2025 (German)

EPHRA: Children explore art at home

A woman uses her smartphone to take a photo of children looking at artworks. — Ilit Azoulay, Tree for Too One, from The Keys, 2010, courtesy die Künstlerin, Bravermann Gallery Foto: (c) Ephra / Mathias Völzke

Berlin-based and a specialist for cultural work, EPHRA connects children with art. While the organization enables children to experience the world through art, it also empowers artists to engage with perspectives of the young generation. Their current work includes four events for pupils form primary schools in Berlin and contemporary artists. After talking about the life and work of the artists, young and old get creative together.

Last year, EPHRA realized the exhibition “Thoughts play Hide and Seek” which featured works from 22 artists including Olafur Eliasson, Karin Sander and Tomás Saraceno.

This year, numerous artists focused on workshops with children and young people.

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“Flashes of Memory. Photography during the Holocaust”

Interior view of a modern exhibition featuring an illuminated floor covered with historical photographs. The dark walls display informational panels, screens, and framed images. — "Flashes of Memory. Photography in the Holocaust", exhibition view Museum für Fotografie 2023. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / David von Becker.

For the first time, the widely recognized “Flashes of Memory” exhibition, which had been developed by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, was on display in Berlin between March 2023 and January 2024. The Museum für Fotografie in Berlin opened for a deeply moving tour of photos and films which had been produced during the Holocaust years. As educational partner of the exhibition project, the Volkswagen Group paved the way for the realization of a dedicated mediation program. A smaller version of this exhibition was on display at the Volkswagen Group Archive in Wolfsburg.

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Cultural diversity in the world of Volkswagen

North/South power plant in Wolfsburg Photo: Volker Kreidler

Around the globe, nearly 680,000 people work at Volkswagen Group facilities. At each of them, the Group is clearly committed to strengthen cultural diversity as part of its corporate social responsibility. Our aim is a sustainable engagement helping to enrich regional cultural life and providing wide-ranging access to culture and the arts for our employees, their families as well as for the wider public. We support smaller local initiatives, join forces with cultural institutions and art museums and enter into collaborations with international impact.

Fostering young talent: Volkswagen Group Fellows

A woman with curly hair, wearing a white top and a red skirt, stands in front of a large chalkboard with handwritten notes and diagrams, gesturing during a presentation. — Kristina Barekyan, Volkswagen Group Fellow in the field of communication and marketing at documenta fifteen. Photo: Philipp Gladsome

Since 2021, the Volkswagen Group has been regularly providing young academics with a boost for their careers in the world of culture and the arts. In partnership with institutions like the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin, the phaeno Science Museum and the Städtische Galerie in Wolfsburg, Volkswagen enabled the fellows to gather working experience in leading museums, collect useful insights and contribute with their individual know-how to the work of the museums.

2023 Architecture Biennale: Spotlight on Sustainability

A man wearing a safety vest and a yellow hard hat stands by the open trunk of a VW van labeled "#VWGroupCulture," handing a box to a woman on a boat. The woman is wearing a red hat and dark clothing. In the background, a bridge and several boats on the water are visible. — In March 2023, the team used a Volkswagen ID.Buzz Cargo for a sustainable transport of their material from Leipzig to Venice.

The curators of the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale centered their work on caring, repairing and maintenance. And during the 18^th Architecture Biennale, the Venice Giardini formed the backdrop for their pioneering concept “Open for Maintenance – Wegen Umbau geöffnet”. With the Volkswagen Group being the leading partner of the team of eight curators from Arch+, SUMMACUMFEMMER und BÜRO JULIANE GREB, the German pavilion offered a program full of workshops and projects during the six-months-long exhibition.

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The 10th anniversary of the MoMA partnership

A dancer in a form-fitting outfit and beanie performs on a stage under purple and blue lighting. In the background, spotlights, projections, and shadows create a dynamic atmosphere. — Performance: ATM Presents DEN$E, performers name: Bubblesz Photograph: Aliza Sena

“We celebrate creativity” is the motto of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. As one of the most important places for contemporary art, the MoMA and MoMA PS1 are among the world's pioneers with their exhibitions and extensive educational program.

The Volkswagen Group has repeatedly helped guests there to have extraordinary experiences - at a concert by the band Kraftwerk, a retrospective of Björk's work or the presentation of the installation “Rain Room” by Random International. As the main partner of the educational program, the Volkswagen Group also supported the development of new online formats for interested parties all over the world.

Big crowd puller at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

The Volkswagen Group was lead partner of one of the most successful exhibitions at the renowned Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. From April 8 to September 18, 2022, more than 750,000 visitors saw the exhibition “Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture”, which was curated by star architect Lord Norman Foster. The exhibition formed a bridge between the history of mobility and the design of urban spaces. It also looked into the future of mobility with the “Future Gallery”.