Mudam Luxembourg opened its doors in July 2006, in a building designed by I.M. Pei that has since become one of the country’s architectural landmarks. Twenty years on, the museum’s collection has grown to nearly 850 works, and its programme has taken on an increasingly international dimension. For its anniversary year, the museum director, 
Mudam is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. When you look at the museum that opened in 2006 and the one visitors experience today, what has changed the most?
Bettina Steinbrügge. – “Even then, it was a very ambitious project. When we step back today, we can see that the world of art has changed profoundly since the museum was imagined in the 1980s. We have witnessed globalisation, the digital revolution, and more recently the emergence of artificial intelligence. The art world has become more international and polyphonic – it has moved beyond a predominantly Western idea of contemporary art. At the same time, audiences seek more experiences rather than simple objects. They want to participate, they want to engage, they want to connect.
The museum itself changed a lot since its opening, because society has changed a lot. We are seeing demographic shifts, new career paths, different expectations from employees, new ways of communicating and consuming information, new forms of artistic practice – installation, moving images, digital art. Visitors today expect to play an active role rather than being passive observers.
Your collection includes nearly 850 works. In 2025, 41 were on display in the museum – less than 5%. Can a public collection that is 95% invisible in its own building still be called a living collection?
“Yes, because this is the reality of a museum. We had a year in 2025 when we showed even less of the collection. But we also took a break in order to reflect on the collection – how we want to show it, how we want to connect it to the museum. The collection is the foundation of what we are doing. It belongs to the public, and that is very important for us. This is also why we are doing shows like Dodeka, to make the collection even more visible across the whole of Luxembourg. It embodies a collective memory as well as a shared identity.
Unlike temporary exhibitions, the collection allows us to tell stories over time and to create lasting connections between artists’ ideas and generations. We stopped for one year where we didn’t show a lot, because we were doing experiments – we took our time to really discuss the collection and how we want to do it in the future. Next year, we’re going to start a bigger collection display, where we show the collection all the time in changing displays.
It took some time to discuss this and to change ways a bit. But now it’s really more interesting, because the collection has reached a critical size that allows us to work with it in much more dynamic ways. Rather than presenting it as something fixed, we want it to become an increasingly active part of the museum’s programme.
Your festive events (Mudam Open Air, Wednesday Night Fever) draw as many people in a few evenings as some exhibitions do over several weeks. Is Mudam becoming an event venue that also shows art, rather than a museum that also hosts events?
“We also have a bigger social role. We never had more audiences in contemporary art museums than today. This brings all these new people, different opportunities, different ideas to the museum. Today we are also a place where people meet, exchange ideas, experience something very different to their normal life. Mudam Open Air or Wednesday Night Fever are not separate from our mission – they just make it bigger.
We can see that all these new events bring many more younger people to the museum. They discover the building, they discover contemporary art in an informal way. And this informal way opens the door to all of them to experience life in a different way. A museum also shows contemporary life – it talks about contemporary life, and not only something academic that is aside, or not really connected to contemporary life.
Visitor numbers rose by 15% in 2025, and your commercial revenue increased by nearly 200,000 euros compared to 2024. Beyond these figures, what tells you that a museum is truly succeeding – and do you think Mudam is?
“Since the eighties, museum visitor numbers have been the easiest way of looking at the success of a museum, but it’s not the only indicator. It just says that people are interested in what we are doing, and that’s nice. For me, a museum is really successful the moment people come back. I’m always looking at the numbers – what are visitors who came once, and what are visitors coming back? The visitors coming back, that is a success story. When they make Mudam part of their lives, by visiting exhibitions regularly, attending performances, bringing their children, or thinking of the museum as a place where they can reflect, discover and spend some time.
I think what matters most is actually the quality over the quantity – the quality of relationship. This is also why we invest a lot in schools, in teaching kids, in bringing kids here, so that they understand that the museum gives them something they don’t get in other places. Sometimes people tell me they come and they change perspective, because in a museum, artists have a very peculiar perspective on life. If people find this interesting, this is a success. Does it spark conversation, inspire curiosity, encourage them to look at something in a new way? This is what interests me. If people leave the museum with something that stays with them and enriches their life, then I think we succeeded.
You end your 2025 annual report with the words “Merci villmools” – in Luxembourgish. You came to Luxembourg with a lot of experience from elsewhere. By closing your report with these words, does it mean you finally feel like you’ve succeeded – like you belong here?
“I have a huge respect for Luxembourg. Belonging is an interesting question – I wasn’t born here, and I will never be a Luxembourger. I have my own history. But Luxembourg is really embracing its people. I’m fascinated by this country that embraces so many different cultures and languages. It’s absolutely fascinating, and it should be a model for the world.
I would like to learn more Luxembourgish, because the moment you speak a language, you learn more about a culture. Using ‘merci villmools’ is really a heartfelt one. I don’t want to imitate something, but I also want to show my respect to a country I deeply admire. It’s a small, but also a symbolic gesture – a gesture of gratitude towards everyone who makes this museum possible. And they also give it into the hands of a foreigner. That is a big step.
Maybe it’s also a way of expressing that Mudam is part of a country’s cultural fabric, connected to a certain language. You can often look at English as an international language, but Mudam is not based on English. Mudam is based on its own identity, being in Luxembourg, and the collection is based on a connection to Luxembourg. This foundation, I want to show.”
