A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary

art exhibition An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhib ...

s, similar to an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

. It is distinct from an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

by not having a permanent collection. In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by a non-profit ' ("art association" or "art society"), and have associated artists, symposia, studios and workshops. They are sometimes called a ''Kunsthaus''.

Origin, spelling and variants

The term ''kunsthalle'' is a

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

from the German ''Kunsthalle'', a

compound noun A compound is a word composed of more than one free morpheme. The English language, like many others, uses compounds frequently. English compounds may be classified in several ways, such as the word classes or the semantic relationship of their ...

formed by combining the two

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

s ''Kunst'' (art) and ''Halle'' (hall). Like all nouns in German, the word is written with an initial

capital letter Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

. In English, it should be written with a lower-case letter (''kunsthalle'') unless it is the first word of a sentence or part of a title. The plural form ''Kunsthallen'' is usually rendered as ''kunsthalles''. The term is translated as ''kunsthal'' in Danish, ''kunsthal'' in Dutch, ''kunstihoone'' in Estonian, ''taidehalli'' in Finnish, ''kunsthall'' in Norwegian and '' konsthall'' in Swedish.

List of kunsthalles

This list contains the exhibition venues, museums, and art societies that can be considered as kunsthalles.

Austria

Kunsthaus Graz The Kunsthaus Graz, Grazer Kunsthaus, or Graz Art Museum was built as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2003 and has since become an architectural landmark in Graz, Austria. Its exhibition program specializes in contemporar ...

, Graz * Kunsthalle Krems ''(foundation)'' *

Kunsthalle Wien Kunsthalle Wien is the city of Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_of ...

; see also Museumsquartier,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

''(municipal)'' *

KunstHausWien The KunstHausWien is a museum in Vienna, designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This museum in the Landstraße district houses the world's only permanent exhibition of Hundertwasser's works, and also hosts regular temporary exhibit ...

, Vienna

Belgium

* , Ghent * Kunsthalle Lophem, Loppem * , Antwerp

Czech Republic

* Kunsthalle Praha, Prague

Denmark

* Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus *

Kunsthal Charlottenborg Kunsthal Charlottenborg is an exhibition building in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the official exhibition gallery of the Royal Danish Academy of Art. History Charlottenborg Palace was constructed in 1672–83 as a residence for Ulrik Frederik Gy ...

, Copenhagen * Nikolaj Kunsthal, (previously known as Kunsthallen Nikolaj), Copenhagen

Estonia

* Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn (''Tallinna Kunstihoone'')

Finland

Kunsthalle Helsinki Kunsthalle Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin Taidehalli, sv, Helsingfors Konsthall) is a non-profit exhibition space founded by various Finnish artist and art associations in 1928. Presenting annually 5–7 major exhibitions and special events, the main fo ...

, Helsinki (''Helsingin Taidehalli'') * Kunsthalle Kohta, Helsinki (''Kohta Taidehalli'') * Kunsthalle Turku, Turku (''Turun Taidehalli'')

France

* La Kunsthalle Mulhouse,

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art The Château de Montsoreau-Museum Contemporary Art is a private museum open to the public in Montsoreau, France. It opened 8 April 2016. The permanent collection exhibited at Château de Montsoreau consists of Philippe Méaille's collection of ...

, Montsoreau

Georgia

* Kunsthalle Tbilisi, Tbilisi

Germany

* Kunsthalle Baden-Baden ''(state-run)'' *

Kunsthalle Bielefeld The Kunsthalle Bielefeld is a modern and contemporary art museum in Bielefeld, Germany. It was designed by Philip Johnson in 1968, and paid for by the businessman and art patron Rudolf August Oetker.Kunsthalle Bremen The Kunsthalle Bremen is an art museum in Bremen, Germany. It is located close to the Bremen Old Town on the "Culture Mile" (german: Kulturmeile). The Kunsthalle was built in 1849, enlarged in 1902 by architect Eduard Gildemeister, and expanded ...

— with a permanent collection (''Kunstverein in Bremen)'' * Kunsthalle Bremerhaven (''Kunstverein Bremerhaven)'' * Kunsthalle Darmstadt ''(Kunstverein Darmstadt)'' *

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available precas ...

''(municipal)'' * Kunsthalle in Emden — with permanent collection ''(foundation)'' * Kunsthalle Erfurt ''(municipal/Erfurter Kunstverein)'' *

Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt The Schirn Kunsthalle is a Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the old city between the Römer and the Frankfurt Cathedral. The Schirn exhibits both modern and contemporary art. It is the main venue for temporary art exhibitions in Fr ...

, Frankfurt ''(municipal)'' *

Kunsthalle Hamburg The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...

— with permanent collection, see Hamburger Kunsthalle ''(state-run)'' * Kunsthalle Göppingen ''(municipal/Kunstverein Göppingen)'' *

Kunsthalle Karlsruhe The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. The museum, created by architect Heinrich Hübsch, opened in 1846 after nine years of work in a neoclassical building next to the Karlsruhe Castle and the ...

— with permanent collection ''(state-run)'' * Kunsthalle Fridericianum Kassel,

Fridericianum The Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe.

''(municipal)'' * Kunsthalle zu Kiel — with permanent collection ''(state-run)'' *

Kunsthalle Königsberg The Kunsthalle Königsberg was an art museum (''Kunsthalle'') in Königsberg. Eduard Anderson, head of Königsberg's art association (''Kunstverein''), led the efforts to establish an exhibition hall in the city. A total of 80,000 German gold mark ...

, now a market in

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

* Kunsthalle der Sparkasse Leipzig ''(foundation)'' * Kunsthalle Kunstverein Lingen ''(Kunstverein Lingen)'' * , Mainz *

Kunsthalle Mannheim The Kunsthalle Mannheim is a museum of modern and contemporary art, built in 1907, established in 1909 and located in Mannheim, Germany. Since then it has housed the city's art collections as well as temporary exhibitions – and up to 1927 those ...

— with permanent collection ''(municipal)'' * , Münster *

Kunsthalle Nürnberg The Kunsthalle Nürnberg is an art centre founded in 1967, near the city centre. It organizes exhibitions by contemporary international artists in its galleries in Nuremberg. The Kunsthalle commissions new work by a majority of the artists it wo ...

''(municipal)'' * Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock *

Kunsthaus Tacheles The Kunsthaus Tacheles (English: ''Art House Tacheles'') was an art center in Berlin, Germany, a large () building and sculpture park on Oranienburger Straße, in the sub-neighborhood of Spandauer Vorstadt in the Mitte district. Huge, colorful ...

, Berlin * Kunsthalle Tübingen — with permanent collection ''(municipal/foundation)'' * Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (''municipal/Verein der Kunstfreunde Wilhelmshaven)''

Italy

AnonimaKunsthalle
Varese * Kunsthalle Bozen, Bolzano * Kunsthalle Meran, Merano

Netherlands

* , Amersfoort * Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam

Norway

* , Bergen * Kunsthall Oslo, Oslo * Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger *

Kunsthall Trondheim Kunsthall Trondheim (KT) is a contemporary art institution in Trondheim, Norway. Located in a former firehall, KT opened in October 2016. Between 2013 and 2016, the Kunsthall was run as a preliminary project in a temporary space by former Direct ...

, Trondheim

Poland

* Kunsthalle Breslau/Wrocław * Kunsthalle Danzig/Gdańsk

Portugal

Kunsthalle Lissabon
Lisbon, Portugal

Romania

* Kunsthalle Bega/Timișoara

Sweden

Switzerland

Kunsthalle Arbon A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection. In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...

Kunsthalle Basel Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre and is located next to the city's ...

''(Basler Kunstverein)'' *

Kunsthalle Bern The Kunsthalle Bern is a ''Kunsthalle'' (art exposition hall) on the Helvetiaplatz in Bern, Switzerland. It was built in 1917–1918 by the Kunsthalle Bern Association and opened on October 5, 1918. Since then, it has been the site of numerous ex ...

''(Verein der Kunsthalle Bern)'' * , Fribourg * Neue Kunst Halle St. Gallen ''(foundation)'' *

Kunsthalle Zürich The Kunsthalle Zürich is a contemporary art exhibition centre in Zurich, Switzerland. It is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year. In 2014 Daniel Baumann replaced Beatrix Ruf ...

''(municipal/Verein Kunsthalle Zürich)'' *

Kunsthaus Zürich The Kunsthaus Zürich is in terms of area the biggest art museum of Switzerland and houses one of the most important art collections in Switzerland, assembled over the years by the local art association called '. The collection spans from the Medi ...

United States

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sc ...

, New York City, New York *

Aspen Art Museum Founded in 1979, the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located in Aspen, Colorado. AAM exhibitions include drawings, paintings, sculptures, multimedia installations and electronic media. Aspen Art Museum Building ...

, Aspen, Colorado
Institute of Contemporary Art
San Jose, California *

MassArt Art Museum Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

, Boston, Massachusetts *

Kunsthalle Detroit Kunsthalle Detroit is a non-profit 501(c)(3) art institution that is focused on Contemporary art, contemporary Visual arts, visual art that uses Light art, light as a medium. The institution was formed in 2009 in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan by Tate ...

, Michigan *

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948, dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual ...

, Texas * Portsmouth Museum of Art *

Dallas Contemporary Dallas Contemporary, founded in 1978, is a contemporary art museum located in the Design District of Dallas, Texas, Dallas, Texas. Description Dallas Contemporary is a non-collecting art museum presenting new and challenging ideas from regional, ...

Texas * MOCA Ohio *

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art museum in Philadelphia. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to e ...

, Pennsylvania * The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago *

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is an art museum for contemporary art, located in St. Louis, Missouri. Known informally as the CAM St. Louis, the museum is located at 3750 Washington Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District. The buildin ...

Center for Maine Contemporary Art Founded in 1952, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) is a contemporary arts institution, presenting a year-round program of changing exhibitions featuring the work of emerging and established artists with ties to Maine. In addition, CMCA o ...

, Rockland, Maine *

Blaffer Art Museum Blaffer Art Museum is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located in the Arts District of the University of Houston campus. Housed in the university’s Fine Arts Building, it is part of the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts. It was fo ...

University of Houston, Texas
Moss Arts Center
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia

Other countries

Kunsthalle Budapest The Budapest Hall of Art or Palace of Art, ( Hungarian − ''Műcsarnok Kunsthalle''), is a contemporary art museum and a historic building located in Budapest, Hungary. Description The museum building is on Heroes' Square, facing the Budap ...

, Budapest, Hungary * , Prague, Czechia * , Košice (german: Kaschau), Slovakia * Kunsthalle Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

References

{{Portal bar, Visual arts Types of art museums and galleries Lists of art museums and galleries *Kunsthalle Arts in Germany German words and phrases