Bucerius Kunst Forum

Bucerius Kunst Forum
Location of Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg
Location of Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg
Established 2002
Location Hamburg, Germany
Coordinates 53°33′04″N 9°59′31″E / 53.551111°N 9.991944°E / 53.551111; 9.991944
Type Art museum
Director Franz Wilhelm Kaiser
Public transit access Rathaus station
Website http://www.buceriuskunstforum.de/en/

The Bucerius Kunst Forum is an international exhibition centre in Hamburg, Germany; founded in 2002 through the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius foundation. It is named after Gerd Bucerius and his wife, and located directly beside the Hamburg Rathaus. The exhibition centre shows 3 - 4 exhibitions per year, in cooperation with other museums and collections.[1] The exhibition centre participates in the Long Night of Museums.[2]

Concept

The Bucerius Kunst Forum wants to impart art of high quality in new contexts. The exhibitions focus on one topic, epoch or artist. They are supposed to show artistic coherences, relationships between epochs and disciplines and to build bridges between ancient and modern art. The art pieces shall be viewed under a new aspect – an exhibition to the oeuvre of Henri Matisse gathered his portraits for the first time, the exhibition about Frida Kahlo devoted itself first to the connection between Mexican and European art. Thus also conoissuers are to achieve new impressions.

The manageable size of the display area induces a precise focus of the topic and a limitation on 100 exhibits. At visitor-surveys three special experiences are named consistently: The visitors are delighted, to be able to see the whole exhibition within one hour, without being exhausted; They have the satisfying feeling that their attention lasts for everything; and they were able to connect the experience of art with an increase in knowledge.

Despite the focus on a broad, interested in the arts public the exhibitions of the Bucerius Kunst Forum are scientifically sound. Frequently they are preceded by a symposium, which assembles international specialists of one topic. During the symposium topics and theses of the exhibition are discussed. Until the summer of 2008 this symposiums took place at the Hamburger Warburg-Haus, since winter 2008 they are hosted at the Bucerius Kunst Forum. The contributions are printed in widely illustrated exhibition catalogues, which are published at Hirmer Verlag since 2005.

For most of the exhibitions the exhibits are carried together from various museums around the world. Thus Terror and Desire. The Temptation of St. Anthony from Hieronymus Bosch to Max Ernst showed exhibits form more than 40 lenders from 10 different states, High Society. American Portraits of the Gilded Age gathered exhibits from 32 lenders, among which were exhibits from 29 different museums of the United States. Occasionally exhibitions show thematic presentations, which are chosen from the collection of one institution – as the Mannerism exhibition from the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum in Budapest or the exhibition New World. Creating an American Art with pieces from the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford (Connecticut).

Until now the lenders belonged among others to:

It belongs to the concepts of the house, to design the display area for every new exhibition in fundamentally new colors and architecture to convey a new spatial experience every time.

Topics

The thematic range of the exhibitions is broadly defined and reaches from the ancient times to the present age. From the field of archaeology there were exhibitions about the Etruscans, Cleopatra or Painting for Eternity. The Tombs of Paestum. Extra-European cultures were discussed during Art of the Silk Road. The Allure of Buddha, old masters through an exhibition about Lucas Crancha the Elder as well as Greco, Velázquez, Goya. Spanish Paintings from German Collections, eras and periods of time through Descent into the World. The Art of Manerism in Europe and Between Heaven and Hell. Medieval Art.

Themed exhibitions discussed Cloud Pictures or The Temptation of St. Anthony. The biggest thematic project so far was a trilogy about 150 years of American art from 1800 to 1950. From 2007 to 2009 it presented the three respective leading categories of paintings of the United States within three sequals: 19th century landscapes, portraits around 1900 and finally the urbanism of the years 1900 to 1950.

The focus is on artist of the classical modernism. Up to this point Willi Baumeister, Max Beckmann, Marc Chagall, Otto Dix, Frida Kahlo, Oskar Kokoschka, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin and the artist community Die Brücke got payed tribute to through a monographic exhibition.

The exhibition Gerhard Richter. Images of an Era in 2011 presented for the first time a contemporary artist at the Bucerius Kunst Forum.

In the Summer of 2012 the Bucerius Kunst Forum dedicated itself to the medium photography in the exhibition New York Photography 1890-1900.

Curators

The concepts of all exhibitions are developed in-house by the scientific department of the house or in collaboration with visiting curators

Former curators and visiting curators were:

Bucerius Kunst Club

The at the end of 2002 founded Bucerius Kunst Club is the nonprofit friends’ association of the Bucerius Kunst Forum. The wide program of events during the exhibitions with technical lectures, readings, movies and concerts, excursions and art journeys are enabled by the Bucerius Kunst Club’s subscriptions, donations and voluntary activities.

The club is financing both the children’s program and the scientific traineeship of the house. This traineeship enables junior scientists a yearlong education in the exhibition business.

The about 1.900 members of the club benefit depending on the category of their membership: They receive the exhibition catalogues for free, get free entry into the exhibition at any time and are invited to the openings and previews. They obtain reduction for the events are allowed to participate in a wide offer of exclusive activities as art journeys, day trips, seminars, and tours through the other culture institutions of Hamburg.

Building and Location

The Bucerius Kunst Forum is located at the Rathausmarkt, on the corner to Alter Wall with the adjacent Rathaus and the building of the Hamburger Börse (Handelskammer) in the city centre respectively the historic city. On the one side it adjoins at the Alsterfleet with the Rathausschleuse.

The representative landmarks building was built for the Reichsbank-Hauptstelle Hamburg starting 1914 (construction 1914-1916, completion 1918/1919, alteration and restoration 1981-1983[3]), which is also pointed out by the inscription of the tympanum of the façade on both sides of the imperial coat of arms. The neoclassicist building is decorated with sculptures, which symbolize the commercial life of the Hamburg area (fishermen, blacksmith, merchant, sailor) and medallions of the three emperors of the realm. Economic power and armed forces are symbolized by mercury and knight figure above the entry of Alter Wall with a marble revetted staircase and foyer. Thematerial originates with the former colony Togo.

The entry - leading into the museum - at the Rathausmarkt was created especially for the Bucerius Kunst Forum. Formerly, the ticket hall was located in the lower exhibition area. The eight mosaic decorated pillars arranged in an octagon belong to the original equipment. They are also to be found in the display area on the first floor. Overall the display area amounts to about 850 square meters.

During the renovation and rearrangement of the rooms by architect’s office Jan Störmer the safety devices and air conditioners were installed, which guarantee ideal exhibition terms and are to match the highest demands of the leading museums in the world.

The Ian-Karan-Auditorium, the Lounge with view on the Rathausmarkt and Alster, and the restaurant Season are also rented out for private events.

Cooperation Partners

As a young exhibition house with international alignment the Bucerius Kunst Forum depends on cooperation with museums domestic and abroad. Be it that curators from other houses conceptualize exhibitions as guest curators or that exceptional pieces from international museum collections are on display. As a double exhibition The Etruscans. Pictures of Life on Earth – Pictures of Death (2004) was displayed simultaneously at the Bucerius Kunst Forum and at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg.

Some exhibitions at Bucerius Kunst Forum were conceptualized in cooperation with other houses. Among those were

Another form of cooperation is the takeover of an exhibition conceptualized by the Bucerius Kunst Forum by another museum. Former second stations were:

Cooperating Institutions

The Bucerius Kunst Forum is an institution of ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius in the legal form of a non-profit limited company. The foundation is the sole shareholder and is financing the Bucerius Kunst Forum with the income of its endowment capital to about two-thirds. The remainder is earned in ticket and catalogue sales as well as postcard sales and renting out parts of the exhibition house for exclusive events. The Bucerius Kunst Forum does not utilize public funds.

Exhibitions with many international loans as the America-Trilogy were supplied by foreign foundations as the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Max Kade Foundation. Companies like ExxonMobil, Latham & Watkins or Bankhaus Lampe as well as Lampe Asset Management engage themselves in individual projects as sponsors. There was an institutional partnership with HSH Nordbank for the duration of three years from 2007 to 2009.

Leadership

Founding director of the Bucerius Kunst Forum was the former director of the Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Heinz Spielmann, who was leading the House until 2005. Ortrud Westheider was the director until 15 February 2016. Since 1 June 2016 Franz Wilhelm Kaiser, former long term exhibition director of the Gemeentenmuseum Den Haag, is the current director of the Bucerius Kunst Forum. The CEO of the Bucerius Kunst Forum is Andreas Hoffmann.[4]

Former Exhibitions

After the first unofficial exhibition Masterpieces from Dresden from 25 October until 19 November 2002 following exhibitions were shown:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bucerius Kunst Forum" (in German). hamburg.de. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  2. ↑ "Bucerius Kunst Forum" (in German). Lange Nacht der Museen Hamburg. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  3. ↑ Lange, Ralf (1995). Architekturführer Hamburg. pp. S. 16.
  4. ↑ ZEIT-Stiftung. "Franz Wilhelm Kaiser - der neue künstlerischer Direktor des Bucerius Kunst Forums". www.zeit-stiftung.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  5. ↑ "Bucerius Kunst Forum: Exhibition". www.buceriuskunstforum.de. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
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