Kunsthalle Münster

The Kunsthalle Münster has presented national and international contemporary art since its opening in 1991. The institution focusses on current trends and socially relevant themes in alternating exhibitions. It regards itself as a production centre and laboratory. Solo and group exhibitions reflect the world of art on the local, national and international level. The Kunsthalle Münster is a place for experiencing art sensually, but also for engaging in an exchange of ideas and theoretical reflexion. A diversified programme of talks, lectures, guided tours, film screenings, symposia and performances supplements the exhibitions. The Kunsthalle thus promotes and inspires an intensive and controversial debate on contemporary art and topical issues of social interest.

On the grounds of the Hawerkamp, the municipal exhibition hall opened its gates on 19 September 1991 under the direction of Dr. Gail B. Kirkpatrick. In 2004 the Kunsthalle moved into its present space on the top floor of Speicher II, a historical industrial building in Münster’s city harbour. Moving to the port area went hand in hand with renaming the exhibition hall from Städtische Ausstellungshalle Am Hawerkamp to AZKM – Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster. In 2012 the AZKM was once more renamed to become Kunsthalle Münster. Aside from the Kunsthalle, the Galerie Mike Karstens and more than thirty partially funded studios for visual artists made available by the Office for Cultural Affairs of the City of Münster are located in the former warehouse. The special architectural features along with traces of industrial usage lend a distinctive character to the ensemble and have frequently inspired artists to new works. A workshop and the studio 4.1. are available to the artists exhibiting in the Kunsthalle. Having a place to work allows them to become directly involved with the space and its surroundings.

As a part of the Office for Cultural Affairs, the Kunsthalle Münster is not only responsible for the programme at the Hafenweg, but also oversees the works of the city’s collection of art in the public space. With each new edition of the Skulptur Projekte the collection has continually grown and it is also expanded with works other than those from the exhibition taking place in Münster every ten years. The collection meanwhile comprises works by such renowned artists as Daniel Buren, Claes Oldenburg, Donald Judd, Rebecca Horn, Per Kirkeby, Maria Nordman and Oscar Tuazon among others. In 2018 Gerhard Richter’s installation Zwei Graue Doppelspiegel für ein Pendel (Two Grey Double Mirrors for a Pendulum), situated in the Dominikanerkirche, entered the collection. The project was initiated by the Kunsthalle Münster and allows the visitors of the secularized church to engage in dimensions of time and space.

Moreover, with Residence NRW⁺, a scholarship programme for artists and curators has become affiliated with the Kunsthalle Münster since 2020. The programme is an important enhancement in the promotion of emerging talents and the extension of funding structures in the field of young contemporary art in North Rhine-Westphalia.