A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, 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
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, repla ...
.
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 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 Konsthall is the Swedish term for ''art gallery'' and may refer to:
*, a contemporary art venue in Stockholm; see
*Edsvik Konsthall, a gallery of contemporary art at Edsberg, North of Stockholm
*Göteborgs Konsthall, a museum of contemporary art i ...
'' 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 ...
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 ...
Tallinn Art Hall
Tallinn Art Hall () is an art gallery built in 1934 by Edgar Johan Kuusik on Freedom Square, Tallinn, Freedom Square in Tallinn, Estonia.
It is known for its exhibitions of modern art, held in the gallery itself as well as the locations Tallinn ...
, 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 ...
Kunsthalle Tbilisi
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 Collection (artwork), permanent collection.
In the Geographical distribution of German speakers#Europe, ...
, 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 — with a permanent collection (''Kunstverein in Bremen)''
* Kunsthalle Bremerhaven (''Kunstverein Bremerhaven)''
* Kunsthalle Darmstadt ''(Kunstverein Darmstadt)''
* Kunsthalle Düsseldorf ''(municipal)''
* Kunsthalle in Emden — with permanent collection ''(foundation)''
* Kunsthalle Erfurt ''(municipal/Erfurter Kunstverein)''
* Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt ''(municipal)''
* Kunsthalle Hamburg — 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 ...
Kunsthalle zu Kiel
The Kunsthalle zu Kiel is an art museum in the German city of Kiel. With 2,000 m2 of display space, it is the largest museum in the city. It is north of the city centre on Düsternbrooker Weg. It has a lecture hall, a small cafe and a sculptur ...
— 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 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
The Rostock Art Gallery (german: Kunsthalle Rostock) was opened on 15 May 1969 as a museum of contemporary art in Rostock in the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is in the grounds of the park around the Schwanenteich lake in the ...
Kunsthalle Tübingen
Kunsthalle Tübingen is the most famous art museum of the university town of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
It was founded (and the erection of its building financed) in 1971 by Paula Zundel and Dr. Margarethe Fischer-Bosch, daughters of ...
— with permanent collection ''(municipal/foundation)''
* Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (''municipal/Verein der Kunstfreunde Wilhelmshaven)''
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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
The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...
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
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 ...