Travel. Hardly any other topic better reflects our current situation between lockdown and longing. Within closed borders and closed societies, when things that were taken for granted plummet into prohibitions, the desire to leave and break out grows. Rethinking is necessary. To find new ways, to test and take them – not only when travelling – is the challenge of our time.

With Bon Voyage! Travelling in Contemporary Art, the Ludwig Forum for International Art presents a selection of artistic positions that focus on travelling. We invite you to see the world through the eyes of the artists who often move off the beaten tourist tracks. The suitcases are packed with personal challenges, extreme experiences of political as well as climatic nature, fictional, and virtual mental journeys, and the last journey into the afterlife, which does without suitcases.

With around 100 works, the exhibition follows the routes of more than 60 artists and shows a selection of artistic positions from the 1960s to the present. Through paintings, installations, videos, objects, photographs, and prints, the exhibition provides an insight into the fascination and significance of travel in contemporary art at five stopovers.