German art critics have named the Archive of the Avant-Garde - Egidio Marzona (ADA) Dresden "Museum of the Year 2024". At its annual conference in Leipzig, the AICA association recognized the "courageous decision of the Free State of Saxony to create and fund an entirely new institution".
In a time of difficult budgetary situations and cutbacks in cultural funding, "art-loving Saxony is showing what politicians can be proud of: preserving the wealth of public collections for the future, fuelling the joy of discovery and constantly reinventing the museum in dialogue with the public", said AICA.
The ADA opened in May 2024 as part of the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD). It houses the collection built up by entrepreneur Egidio Marzona since the 1960s with around one million objects, which the patron donated to Saxony in 2016.
The Free State completely converted a baroque building into a modern domicile in a prominent location on the banks of the Elbe. According to the AICA, "an institution of its own kind" was created, which continuously makes its methods transparent and questions them.
