The KUNSTHALLE wien | The Program

is the newest building to contribute to the Vienna art scene. Situated near the Karlsplatz, it is part of a sort of “Cultural Plaza” that extends from the Vienna Secession, Academy of Fine Arts, The City of Vienna’s Historic Museum to the Künstlerhaus and the Musikverein. The Kunsthalle Wien opened on September 5, 1992. The first major exhibition was dedicated to “Haus-Rucker-Co.”, a group of artist-architects from the offices of Ortner & Ortner – the team of architects chosen to design the new Museumsquartier and the future Kunsthalle. The Kunsthalle Wien is mainly supported by the City of Vienna.

On December 15, 1995 the Kunsthalle Wien opened the exhibition „Auf den Leib geschrieben“, thus inaugurating a temporary exhibition space in Halls F and F1 of the Museumsquartier.

The activities of the Kunsthalle Wien im Museumsquartier can be seen as the first step on the way to the final relocation of the Kunsthalle Wien to the hall for art shows and events in the Museumsquartier, which is being designed by Ortner & Ortner.

A continuous series of exhibition projects is intended to make culturally interested circles very much aware of the new location, the future home of the Kunsthalle Wien. In artistic terms, the temporary use of the premises – with all its technical and infrastructural limits – is a chance to highlight contemporary Austrian art – and its relations to international trends – more than has been possible so far. Moreover, it will be easier to transcend boundaries between art categories.

The Program

aims at facilitating “a broader understanding of art” primarily through the presentation of contemporary visual arts, e.g., video installations, film and “experimental” architecture. Thematic exhibitions will alternate with those dedicated to “Modern Classics”, with some of the projects being organized under the auspices of the Wiener Festwochen. Performances, lectures and symposia are planned both as a complement and as an integral part of the exhibition program. Up to now the Kunsthalle has organized exhibitions focussing on cultural memories, technology and language. Comprehensive one-man shows were dedicated to the video artist Gary Hill, to Rebecca Horn, Oscar Schlemmer, and Dara Birnbaum.

The five shop windows opposite the Kunsthalle Wien building on Karlsplatz were first used for an installation in a public space by the artists’ duo Peter Fischli/David Weiss in the framework of the exhibition “Doubletake”. Since then, works and projects of young Austrian and international artists have been presented there at irregular intervals and independent of the exhibition program of the Kunsthalle Wien.