The DKM foundation was founded in 1998 in Duisburg and is a public and non-profit cultural institution. Its collection contains exclusive and high-quality pieces of fine art transcending time and cultural constraints. The aim of the private foundation, run by collectors Dirk Krämer and Klaus Maas, is to produce sustainable innovation and support the cultural diversity of the Rhine-Ruhr region.

The DKM museum in Duisburg city centre is situated between the Kant Park, the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum and the main station. It opened in January 2009. The collection is displayed in the tasteful elegance of a renovated apartment and office block. Five floors and 51 rooms (35 artist rooms and 16 theme rooms) covering 2700 square metres house the 1200 exhibition pieces and offer staged views of the outside area.

The DKM museum’s exhibition concept has been shaped by the contrast between contemporary and past use of form; dialogue between old and new; working with Asian-influenced mindset and timeless aesthetics.

The collection brings aesthetic parallels together in unique ways and displays exclusive grave furniture and travel photographs (19th C.) from Egypt; ritual vessels from Amlash (Iran); figures of Buddha, reliefs and articles of daily use from Ghandara (Afghanistan/Pakistan); various pieces of terracotta grave furniture (China, West Han); Europe’s only collection of Buddha figures from the North Qi Dynasty (China); ceramics and roll paintings from Japan, torsi and Buddha busts from the former Siamese capital, Ayutthaya (Thailand).

Photography (e.g. by Albert Renger-Patzsch, Bernd and Hilla Becher) and 20th and 21st century works by Ben Nicholson, Jan Schoonhoven, Norbert Kricke, Ernst Hermanns, Lee Ufan, Yuji Takeoka, Ulrich Erben, Bernd Minnich, Tadaaki Kuwayama, Richard Serra, Ulrich Rückriem, Blinky Palermo, Christiane Möbus, Alf Schuler, Qiu Shi-hua, Hamish Fulton, Richard Long, Erwin Wortelkamp, Erich Reusch, Raimund Kummer, Adrian Schiess, Olivier Mosset, Claudia Terstappen, Thomas Virnich, Song Dong and Ai Weiwei among others are on display from the world of new art.