EUROPEAN KUNSTHALLE

The European Kunsthalle was initiated in 2005 by the organisation Das Loch e.V. – now the European Society for Contemporary Art. The aim was to reflect the concepts and potentials of the ‘Kunsthalle’ model, to put it into perspective and develop it for the future. As a discursive platform without a physical location of its own, the European Kunsthalle has, in its two-year founding period under the direction of Nicolaus Schafhausen and Vanessa Joan Müller, developed its own approach to institutional practice.

Since autumn 2007 the programming is directed on by a European Programme Team with Astrid Wege (Cologne), Rike Frank (Berlin / Vienna) and Anders Kreuger (Lund / Vilnius). The dimension of the ‘European’ as a collaborative practice remains an important aspect, as does the notion of anchoring the European Kunsthalle in Cologne.

The European Kunsthalle considers itself a forum in which the aspect of artistic production is ascribed a similar significance as the presentation and reflection of art and culture. It sees itself as a basis open to a broad range of art forms including both known and emerging contemporary art practices, approaching these in an interdisciplinary and experimental way. Reflecting the diversity of artistic media, it develops innovative exhibition formats and knows the value of sound research.

In this sense, the European Kunsthalle considers itself a field of activity, one in which a public can be developed both through and with art. It aims for a communicative exchange between art and audience. Moreover, the European Kunsthalle sees itself as a cooperation structure, fused through collaborations with institutions and initiatives from various cultural production and mediation contexts both locally and internationally – with Kunsthallen, museums, festivals, artist-in-residency and curatorial programs, academies, universities and art magazines.