A NEW CHAPTER: ZKM Art And Media’s Newest Exhibit, “The Story That Never Ends,” Features Four CryptoPunks!

The story of CryptoPunks continued this week after the ZKM Center for Art and Media put four on display as part of its exhibit, The Story That Never Ends, which explores art over the last 70 years!

On Tuesday, Yuga Labs took to the timeline to announce that the ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, recently debuted its The Story That Never Ends exhibit, featuring the museum’s four CryptoPunks, which it acquired years ago.

“ZKM | Center for Art and Media has always been ahead of its time,” Yuga Labs tweeted from its CryptoPunks account. “They were the first institution to acquire CryptoPunks as a part of their permanent collection. Now, four CryptoPunks - #1286, #2554, #2838, &  #5449 - hang alongside Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, and Jeffrey Shaw in The Story That Never Ends, a landmark show tracing 70+ years of media art. From generative code to museum walls, Punks take their place in the continuum of digital expression.”

 

The Story That Never Ends dives into the evolution of art from 1950 to today, tracing the relationship between creativity and technology.

“Electrification and digitalization have changed the world,” the Museum wrote. “This change not only affects our everyday lives, but also has an impact on artistic creation. Artists have been using these rapidly developing technologies since the beginning of the twentieth century, continuously expanding the expressive possibilities of art: The spectrum ranges from video, light and sound artworks to motor-driven kinetic objects, computer-based interactive installations and works created with the help of artificial intelligence.”

 

In total, ZKM’s collection includes 100 works designed to make viewers reflect on the past and consider the future of art in an ever-evolving technological landscape.

“The Story That Never Ends uses the ZKM’s unique collection to tell more than just the fascinating history of media art. It also highlights the fragility of our electrified and digitalized civilization,” the museum explained. “The exhibition provides an in-depth insight into the history of art and technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and shows how history sharpens our view of the present and encourages us to imagine possible futures.”

 

The Story That Never Ends will be on display at the ZKM Center for Art and Media through September 20, 2026. For more information, check out the museum’s website: https://zkm.de/en/2025/04/the-story-that-never-ends

 

As the Bored Ape Gazette previously reported, CryptoPunks can be seen in museums around the world in the Toledo Museum, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, thanks to Yuga Labs’ Punks Legacy Program, which aims to donate and place Punks in contemporary art institutions!

The Bored Ape Gazette will continue to follow The Story That Never Ends and will let you know where the Punks pop up next. Stay tuned for updates!