Kunsthalle Düsseldorf

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf

Contemporary German & European art in 1970s museum with tunnel gallery displaying new artists’ work.

The Kunsthalle’s concrete cube, built in 1967, is one of the most striking buildings in Düsseldorf, a rare example of brutalist architecture. The architects Beckmann and Brockes used precast concrete elements that had been developed in the 1950s for purely economic reasons, and they were not only faced with a formal challenge. Against this background, the architecture of the Kunsthalle is to be understood today.

Since the opening of the house on Grabbeplatz, the two independent institutions Kunsthalle and Kunstverein for the Rhineland and Westphalia have been located under one roof. The Kunsthalle differs from all other museums in Düsseldorf not only in terms of its appearance, but also in terms of its conceptual orientation. As a house for temporary exhibitions without its own collection, trends and positions in contemporary art have been at the center of the program right from the start, as well as their historical and local reference points. Groundbreaking exhibitions took place here, such as the series of “Prospect” exhibitions between 1968 and 1976, and many an international artist entered the European art market via the Düsseldorf Kunsthalle. The Kunsthalle sees it as its task to stimulate an examination of the art of today – in its immediacy, but also in the context of current developments – i.e. an art that is capable of language and takes up social discourses. Of central importance is the idea of ​​communicating contemporary art and showing its roots and continuities within the artistic discourse.

At the end of the 1990s, Düsseldorf artists and citizens successfully campaigned for the preservation of the Kunsthalle. The Kunsthalle was temporarily closed for extensive conversion and modernization work by the architect team rheinflügel and has been open to visitors again since July 2002. The interior of the house impresses with its simple structure and generously dimensioned exhibition halls. The qualities of these rooms are underlined after the renovation and optimized for the presentation of art. The loose surfaces and technical applications have been removed from floors, walls and ceilings in favor of a new, smooth, radiant skin behind which the technical installations are now hidden. The new lighting concept underlines the proportions of the rooms, and the entrance facade and the foyer zones from the ground floor to the second floor now fulfill the tasks of reception and orientation according to the original concept of 1967. The presence and shape of the cash desk, book sales, bar and information desk are designed in a cubist manner to echo the architecture of the art gallery.

The Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is a place for the whole variety of international contemporary art and related contemporary discourses. This tradition of the Kunsthalle has continued since the building reopened in 2002, and innovative exhibition and communication formats continue to be developed.
The enormously varied and stimulating range of exhibitions, both in terms of content and timing, such as “Back to Concrete – The Beginnings of Punk and New Wave in Germany 1977-’82”, “Ready to Shoot – Gerry Schum TV Gallery, videogalerieschum” (2003), “Palermo” (2007), Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix (2009), Eating the Universe. From Food in Art” (2009/2010), “Hans-Peter Feldmann – Art Exhibition” (2010) and “KRIWET – Yester ‘n’ Today” (2011) were very well received by the public. In the exhibition series “Sidelight Hall”, younger and less well-known artistic positions were also presented, or with the artists* of the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff grant.

Gregor Jansen has been director of the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf since January 2010. International trends and Düsseldorf positions, new talents and “big” names will continue to find their place in this idiosyncratic house under his leadership.