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. Read more ...
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.
Freundeskreis der Kunsthalle Münster e.V.
What the members of the Friends of the Kunsthalle Münster have in common is their love for and their commitment to art. They support the work of the Kunsthalle financially and ideally, and are committed to promoting openness toward contemporary art—for an open view on art enables a fresh view on the world.
The Friends of the Kunsthalle Münster are recognized as a non-profit association, and it represents an important pillar in the funding structures of the institution. By becoming a member you acknowledge the Kunsthalle’s programme and, at the same time, help promote this internationally renowned institution. Through your support as a member of the Friends of the Kunsthalle Münster you significantly contribute, in both financial and non-material ways, to the flourishing of the Kunsthalle and thus also to the cultural landscape of Münster. Read more ...
As a member of the Friends of the Kunsthalle Münster you enjoy many benefits: as a welcome gift you will receive a publication of your choice from the holdings of the Kunsthalle Münster, you are personally invited to all exhibitions and events at the Kunsthalle and can participate in all activities organized exclusively for the Friends of the Kunsthalle Münster.
It would be our great pleasure to welcome you as a member in the circle of Friends and to shape the future of the Kunsthalle Münster.
The annual fee for a simple membership is EUR 20. Please consider that the membership is always valid for a full calendar year. Terminations must reach us in written form before 1 Oct within the year. All membership fees are tax deductible.
DIE VIELEN
The Kunsthalle Münster supports the association DIE VIELEN. Our programme reflects the diversity inherent in our society and therefore explicitly addresses topics like dialogue, freedom, diversity and equal rights. It is our defined goal to be open for all people, independent of their origin, skin colour, religion, sex or world view.
We understand art and cultural institutions as open spaces belonging to many. Our society is a pluralistic gathering. Many different interests meet and find one another somewhere “in between”. Democracy must be renegotiated on a daily basis—but always under the one condition: it is about all of us, about each and every one as a unique being of many possibilities.
Stadthausgalerie
Already in the years before its renovation, the Stadthausgalerie – located on Platz des Westfälischen Friedens – served to present national and international contemporary art. From summer 2023 on, Kunsthalle Münster will carry forward the exhibition activities of the past by using the space once or twice a year. Read more ...
With respect to Münster’s self-image as the city hosting the Skulptur Projekte, staging a programme at the Stadthausgalerie offers the opportunity to take a look at the public realm and its related subject matter, including questions concerning art and the public – beyond the large-scale exhibition that takes place every ten years. Forming the basis for this examination is the collection of art in the public space owned by the City of Münster.
Owing to the Skulptur Projekte and the city’s collection of art in the public space, Münster has evolved into an important reference point for a critical-reflective engagement with questions regarding the public sphere and art in public space. Works in public space have a stronger impact on the everyday lives of the city’s population than works held in the protected space of a museum. Giving rise to various confrontations and prompting questions, they create identity in a distinctive way. It is this line of thought that provides the starting point for the programme of the Stadthausgalerie. Current discourses on the use of public space, the qualities defining public sites as contested spaces, art in public space and, in addition, issues concerning commemorative culture and monuments are given a concrete venue that encourages critical debate and enables an investigation based on artistic means.
Residence NRW⁺
Residence NRW⁺ is an expanded support programme relaunched for the promotion of excellence in great emerging talents from the field of contemporary visual arts. It is based on residency scholarships that have been granted for more than 40 years now by the NRW Federal Ministry of Culture and the Kunststiftung NRW and, for the first time from 2020 on, by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia: four twelve-month scholarships per year for visual artists (max. age 40) connected to NRW and four six-month scholarships for curators (max. age 35) connected to NRW or based in Switzerland. The scholarships for artists are funded in equal parts by the Federal Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Kunststiftung NRW. The monthly grant for artists is EUR 1,450; the monthly grant for curators is EUR 1,250. The scholarships are decided by alternating expert committees. Binding for all scholars is their willingness to spend the scholarship period with fellow scholars at the place of residency, offering suitable spaces for living and concentrated working. Read more ...
Residence NRW⁺ is based on the project work at the former scholarship location Schloss Ringenberg. Since 2001 a programme structure has successively been developed and proven for the artist scholars and, since 2009 for the first time in Germany, also for curator scholars. Starting in 2020 the new residency location is the city of Münster, which offers the artists a wide range of possibilities to advance their individual development. With the University of Fine Arts Münster, various studio houses, along with the Kunsthalle Münster, the Westfälischer Kunstverein and the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster possesses renowned production and presentation sites where high-level contemporary art is on display, latest trends in the visual arts are discussed and enabled to enter into dialogue with a broad public.
In affiliation with the Kunsthalle Münster, the gained long-term experiences and networks will be introduced to the new residency location with the aim of emphasizing the scholars’ individual concerns and refining their particular approaches and working methods. Grounded on the four key elements of the programme, exchange, practice, support and networking, Residence NRW⁺ offers optimal conditions for advancement within each individual field of work: artists and curators live and work together under one roof. At the end of the scholarship, the artists stage an exhibition in an institution in NRW. The curators work in duos and will conceive and independently realize, in general, two projects funded by the promotional programme at alternating cooperation venues throughout North Rhine-Westphalia. These projects may be exhibitions but may also take the form of performance or film programmes.
In the past, cooperation venues were art institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Museum Arnhem, the Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach, the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, the Kaiser-Wilhelm Museum Krefeld, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, the Kunsthalle Münster, the Westfälische Kunstverein, the Museum Kurhaus Kleve and the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg. As a contact partner in professional matters, the scholars benefit from the mentoring of a qualified person with long-term experience in the field. The mentoring is a unique characteristic of this promotional programme. It includes work meetings (individual studio visits, presentations in the group), advice related to project funding applications, support in preparing exhibitions, guidance for the curator projects, excursions and specialist conferences with limited numbers of participants. Another special feature is the follow-up support provided for the alumni. An active cooperation and alumni network have grown since 2001, with presently over 180 German and Dutch artists and curators. Residence NRW⁺ integrates and further involves the alumni in the ongoing programme and promotes intensive exchange by organizing regular meetings.
Responsible for the conception and implementation of the scholarship programme is Marcus Lütkemeyer who has been active in the promotion of young artists and curators in NRW and the Netherlands since 2001.