Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art. Ever since the building on the Grabbeplatz opened, it has housed two independent institutions, the Kunsthalle and the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen. Not merely externally different from all of the other museums in Düsseldorf, the Kunsthalle's conceptual direction is also distinct. Hosting an array of exhibitions, but without its own collection, contemporary art movements and positions, as well as their historical and local points of reference, were crucial to the Kunsthalle's program from the start. Pioneering shows were seen here, such as the series of "Prospect" exhibitions between 1968 and 1976, and so a number of international artists entered the European art market through the Düsseldorf Kunsthalle. It is the Kunsthalle's job to stimulate discussions and explorations of today's art, in its immediacy as well as in the context of current developments – meaning, a kind of art that is articulate, that enters into social discourse. Mediating contemporary art, revealing its roots and its continuity within the artistic discourse is of central importance.