The Deichtorhallen in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, is one of Europe's largest art centers for

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

and

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

. The two historical buildings dating from 1911 to 1913 are iconic in style, with their open steel-and-glass structures. Their architecture creates a backdrop for spectacular major international exhibitions. In 2003 the southern hall was dedicated to the medium of photography, creating the House of Photography. Since 2011, the two buildings at the interface of Hamburg's Kunstmeile and Hafencity have been supplemented by a satellite in Hamburg's Harburg district, the Sammlung Falckenberg.

History

Between 1911 and 1914, the "''Deichtorhallen''" ("the levee gate halls") were built as market halls on the grounds of the former Berliner Bahnhof railway station, Hamburg's counterpart to Berlin's

Hamburger Bahnhof Hamburger Bahnhof is the former terminus of the Berlin–Hamburg Railway in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstrasse in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as a contemporary art museum, the , part of the Berlin Nati ...

. They constitute one of the few surviving examples of

industrial architecture Industrial architecture is the design and construction of buildings serving industry. Such buildings rose in importance with the Industrial Revolution, starting in Britain, and were some of the pioneering structures of modern architecture. File: ...

from the transitional period between

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and 20th century styles. The two halls are open steel structures, the northern hall is a longitudinal edifice boasting three naves and a 3,800 m² footprint; the southern hall (1,800 m²) is a building with a

lantern roof A roof lantern is a daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight structure. A lantern roof w ...

. Rupprecht Matthies created two "language cylinders" visitors can walk through for Deichtorplatz, which is also home to a

Richard Serra Richard Serra (born November 2, 1938) is an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures made for site-specific landscape, urban, and architectural settings. Serra's sculptures are notable for their material quality and exploration o ...

sculpture. In the northern hall, there is a line of neon writing by

Mario Merz Mario Merz (1 January 1925 – 9 November 2003) was an Italian artist, and husband of Marisa Merz. Life Born in Milan, Merz started drawing during World War II, when he was imprisoned for his activities with the ''Giustizia e Libertà'' antif ...

and a "Blue Disc" by

Imi Knoebel Imi Knoebel (/i:mi: kno:ʊbəl/) (born Klaus Wolf Knoebel; 1940) is a German artist. Knoebel is known for his minimalist, abstract painting and sculpture. The "Messerschnitt" or "knife cuts," are a recurring technique he employs, along with his ...

. The Körber Foundation gifted the restored Deichtorhallen to the City of Hamburg. In 1989, they were assigned to a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

: Deichtorhallen-Ausstellungs GmbH. On 9 November 1989, Deichtorhallen's international art exhibition program opened with the show "''Einleuchten''", curated by

Harald Szeemann '' Harald Szeemann (11 June 1933 – 18 February 2005) was a Swiss curator, artist, and art historian. Having curated more than 200 exhibitions, many of which have been characterized as groundbreaking, Szeemann is said to have helped redefine the r ...

. Deichtorhallen Hamburg has emerged as an exhibition center for photography and contemporary art with three pillars of activities, three institutions under the single Deichtorhallen brand. Since 2009, Dirk Luckow has been Artistic Director of Deichtorhallen Hamburg.

Exhibitions (selection)

Wolfgang Tillmans Wolfgang Tillmans (born 16 August 1968) is a German photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations. Tillmans was the first photog ...

(2001) * Martin Parr (2004) *

Martin Munkácsi Martin Munkácsi (born Mermelstein Márton; 18 May 1896 – 13 July 1963) was a Hungarian photographer who worked in Germany (1928–1934) and the United States, where he was based in New York City. Life and works Munkácsi was a newspaper write ...

(2005) *

Jonathan Meese Jonathan Meese (born January 23, 1970 in Tokyo) is a German painter, sculptor, performance artist and installation artist based in Berlin and Hamburg. Meese's (often multi-media) works include paintings, collages, drawings and writing. He also ...

(2006) * Georg Baselitz (2007) *

Erwin Wurm Erwin Wurm (born 1954) is an Austrian artist. He lives and works in Vienna and Limberg in Austria, and in New York City. Early life Erwin Wurm was born in Bruck an der Mur, Austria, in 1954. His father was a detective, who did not approve of ar ...

(2007) *

Fischli & Weiss Peter Fischli (born 8 June 1952) and David Weiss (21 June 1946 – 27 April 2012), often shortened to Fischli/Weiss, were a Swiss artist duo that collaborated beginning in 1979. Their best-known work is the film '' Der Lauf der Dinge'' (''Th ...

(2008) * F. C. Gundlach (2008) *

Lillian Bassman Lillian Bassman (June 15, 1917 – February 13, 2012) was an American photographer and painter. Early life and background Her parents were Jewish intellectuals who emigrated to the United States from Ukraine (then in Russia) in 1905 and settled i ...

Paul Himmel Paul Himmel (1914 – February 8, 2009) was a fashion and documentary photographer in the United States. Himmel was the son of Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants. He took up photography as a teenager and studied graphic journalism under art director Ale ...

(2009) *

Herbert Tobias Herbert Tobias (14 December 1924 – 17 August 1982) was a German photographer who first became well known for his fashion photography during the 1950s. His portrait studies, his photographs of Russia during World War II and his homoerotic picture ...

(2009) *

Katharina Fritsch Katharina Fritsch (born 14 February 1956) is a German sculptor."Katharina Fritsch: Arti ...

(2009) *

Nobuyoshi Araki is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist professionally known by the mononym . Known primarily for photography that blends eroticism and bondage in a fine art context, he has published over 500 books.The number depends on such things ...

(2010) *

Poul Gernes Poul is a Danish masculine given name. It is the Danish cognate of the name Paul. Poul may refer to: People * Poul Andersen (1922–2006), Danish printer *Poul Anderson (1926–2001), American writer * Poul Erik Andreasen (born 1949), Danish f ...

(2010) *

Julia Stoschek Julia Stoschek (born 1975) is a German socialite and art collector. Career Julia Stoschek was born in 1975, the daughter of Michael Stoschek, the German billionaire businessman and chairman of Brose Fahrzeugteile. Stoschek first began buyi ...

Collection (2010) *

Gilbert & George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art d ...

(2011) *

Marilyn Minter Marilyn Minter (born 1948) is an American visual artist who is perhaps best known for her sensual paintings and photographs done in the photorealism style that blur the line between commercial and fine art. Minter currently teaches in the MFA de ...

(2011) *

Anselm Reyle Anselm Reyle (born 1970) is an artist based in Berlin. He is known for his often large-scale abstract paintings and found-object sculptures. Biography Anselm Reyle was born in Tübingen, Germany in 1970. He studied at the Staatliche Akademie d ...

(2012) * Horizon Field Hamburg by Antony Gormley (2012) *

Sarah Moon Sarah Moon HonFRPS (born Marielle Warin; 1941) is a French photographer. Initially a model, she turned to fashion photography in the 1970s. Since 1985, she has concentrated on gallery and film work. Biography Marielle Warin was born in Vernon, ...

(2015)

References

External links

Official site of Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Culture in Hamburg Buildings and structures in Hamburg-Mitte Museums in Hamburg Art museums established in 1989 Art museums and galleries in Germany 1989 establishments in West Germany Tourist attractions in Hamburg Art Nouveau architecture in Hamburg Art Nouveau retail buildings Commercial buildings completed in 1914 {{Hamburg-struct-stub