Information

Founded in 1963, the Bonner Kunstverein has a long tradition of hosting significant and acclaimed exhibitions of contemporary art. These have included significant solo exhibitions by Anselm Kiefer (1977), Hanne Darboven (1982), Dieter Roth (1983), Christian Boltanski (1984), Annette Messager, Nancy Spero (1990), Thomas Ruff, Ida Applebroog (1991), Giulio Paolini, Kiki Smith, Katharina Sieverding, Alighiero e Boetti (1992), Marlene Dumas (1993), Heimo Zobernig (1998), John Bock (2001), Friedrich Kunath (2002), Gregor Schneider (2006), Anne Collier, Ryan Gander (2008), Christopher Williams (2009), Ed Atkins, Charline von Heyl (2012) and Jana Euler (2014).

The Kunstverein moved to its current premises in the northern quarter of the city of Bonn in January 1987. A former flower market, the building dates from 1974 and was converted by the award winning architects Haus–Rucker–Co. Further additions to the building were commissioned from Marie-Céline Schäfer and Karsten Weber (rheinflügel) in 2007. This improved access to the Kunstverein’s Artothek collection and saw the creation of a café and 700 square metre exhibition hall.

The Kunstverein’s Peter Mertes Stipendium has been awarded annually to two artists since 1985. The Kinderprogramm has been running since the 1970’s and our Artothek collection dates from 1987. The Atelierhaus became part of the Kunstverein in 2004.

Our current exhibition programme builds upon the institution’s reputation for producing new works and exhibitions by internationally prominent artists and survey exhibitions that highlight current concerns in artistic production.