The Frankfurter Kunstverein

The Frankfurter Kunstverein is an exhibition space for contemporary art and culture in Frankfurt am Main. Exhibiting young and up and coming artists, it has become a site for encounter and engagement with the themes of our time. It is the key platform for contemporary art exhibitions, site-specific projects, performances, artist talks, and expert panels. Artists, creatives, and an engaged audience encounter a venue for the exchange of ideas about contemporary art, culture, society, and social issues. Since the end of 2014, when Franziska Nori took on the position of director, the Frankfurter Kunstverein’s program has focused on the diverse intersections between art, science, and contemporary society.

At the Frankfurter Kunstverein, art is understood as an intermediary between different fields: expert knowledge and social issues, philosophical discourses and lived realities, aesthetic experiences and the transfer of knowledge. It therefore works with artists whose practices employ knowledge spanning a variety of fields from technical and natural sciences to the humanities. Their artistic reflection of contemporary themes is intended to sharpen our view of society today and inform our vision of how it could look in the future.

Multifaceted group exhibitions as well as innovative solo exhibitions make complex themes tangible for the viewer. In these exhibitions, knowledge can be physically experienced through the senses in order to provide an entry point into new perspectives. Collaborations with institutions in the city and region as well as international organizations combine skills and allow for projects that cross disciplines. At the same time, the Frankfurter Kunstverein addresses the events in the city and local artists.

The Frankfurter Kunstverein was founded in 1829 and is among the oldest and largest Kunstvereine in Germany. It has over one thousand members. Since 1962, the institution has been located at the Steinernes Haus directly in the city center. The building’s extension, realized in the 1950s, has since officially been named a historical monument. With the redesign of the Dom-Römer-site, the exhibition house is centrally embedded in the structure of the new urban development. Through the addition of a second entrance, the Frankfurter Kunstverein has now opened itself up to the new district even more, reaffirming its commitment to being a venue designed with and for the city’s residents.