Posted: 16 Jul 2011 06:50 PM PDT
The Deichtorhallen are a pair of buildings in Hamburg, Germany, formerly used as a market and now a centre for temporary exhibitions of modern art, photography and design. The Deichtorhallen consist of Europe's largest exhibition hall for contemporary art together with the more recent Haus der Photographie (House of Photography). They are located in the centre of Hamburg, between the Kunstmeile ("art mile") and the former docks area, HafenCity. The spacious buildings are distinguished architecturally by their open steel-girder and glass construction, and offer a visually impressive venue for the large international art exhibitions hosted there today. There is also a design store, a specialist photography bookstore and a restaurant. The Deichtorhallen do not house a permanent collection, but instead a continually changing series of exhibitions; however, the basis of the Haus der Photographie is two collections on extended loan: the collection of the photographer F.C. Gundlach, one of Germany's leading collectors of artistic and fashion photography; and the archive of the magazine Der Spiegel, which with over three million images is the largest journalistic research archive in Germany. Next to the buildings is a moored balloon, "HiFlyer", which offers views across the city. What were once two market halls, today provide some 6,000+ square meters of exhibition area forming one of Europe’s largest centers for art exhibitions". ...Anyone who hates that museum feel will love the old halls; no sense of claustrophobia here, a modern ambience, and the shows are always exciting,“ is how the magazine "MarieClaire“ describes the Deichtorhallen. The editors of the annual CAPITAL-Kunstkompass art guide rank the Deichtorhallen among their group of only ten internationally important museums and art institutions alongside the likes of the Guggenheim and MOMA, New York, the Stedelijk, Amsterdam, the Tate Modern, London and the Center Georges Pompidou, Paris.The restored halls were donated by the Körber Foundation to the city of Hamburg. In 1989 they were assigned to the Deichtorhallen-Ausstellungs GmbH. The Deichtorhallen’s international art exhibition program was launched by Harald Szeemann who curated the first show "Einleuchten“ which opened on November 9, 1989. Open steel and glass architecture highlight the spacious historic buildings which today offer room for spectacular, large-scale international exhibitions. Deichtorhallen Director Dr. Robert Fleck fills these rooms with international contemporary art grouped under particular headings – or with single shows on Warhol and Marc Chagall through to Haring. This catalogue of artists is also supplemented by star photographers such as Newton, Leibowitz and Penn. The "Deichtorhallen" enjoy an impeccable international reputation, based upon the six to eight annual exhibitions of art and art history which are consistently representative of an extremely high international standard. The gallery therefore has established itself as an important platform for creative art after 1945. They have included comprehensive shows by such artists as Andreas Gursky (1994), Cindy Sherman (1995), Jason Rhoades (1999), Andrea Zittel (1999), Elizabeth Peyton (2001) and Wolfgang Tillmans (2001). Furthermore, thematic and group exhibitions have gone on tour as have renowned international art collections such as the Center Pompidou Collection (1990) or the Goetz Collection (1998 – 1999). Since its reopening in April 2005, the House of Photography has organized exhibitions spotlighting the diversity of photography, presenting unknown but world class photographers as well as photographic stars since photography’s beginnings in the 19th century through to the current upheaval marked by the transition from traditional to digital-electronic photographs. Visit website at : www.deichtorhallen.de/
No permanent collection is mounted in the Deichtorhallen Halls. The emphasis is firmly on temporary exhibitions, despite the House of Photography being based around two collections: the F. C. Gundlach collection, one of Germany’s leading compilations of artistic and fashion photography, and the Spiegel magazine photo library, Germany’s biggest research archive for journalists, with more than three million pictures. The emphasis is firmly on temporary exhibitions, despite the House of Photography being based around two collections: the F. C. Gundlach collection, one of Germany’s leading compilations of artistic and fashion photography, and the Spiegel magazine photo library, Germany’s biggest research archive for journalists, with more than three million pictures. Since its reopening in April 2005, the House of Photography has organized exhibitions spotlighting the diversity of photography, presenting unknown but world class photographers as well as photographic stars since photography’s beginnings in the 19th century through to the current upheaval marked by the transition from traditional to digital-electronic photographs. The central element in all this is the F.C. Gundlach Collection, one of the leading collections of art and fashion photography which the Deichtorhallen succeeded in keeping in Hamburg. It is on permanent loan to the Deichtorhallen and will be shown gradually over the upcoming years juxtaposed with works from the international world of photography. The architectural conception was based upon the ideas of Prof. F. C. Gundlach and is a substantial and sensitive development of the renovationof the former market hall by Josef P. Kleihues in 1989. After the construction of the Schürmann-Wing at the Museum of Arts and Crafts and the adaptation of Bucerius Artforum in Hamburg architect Jan Störmer has now set a third landmark in the Hamburg cultural landscape with the House of Photography. The hall has received a new climate and light system, separate exhibition cabinets, a hightech auditory, an interactive educational lounge, a library, a storage space for the photographic collections as well as a bookshop and the new restaurant »Fillet of Soul«. The House of Photography thus fulfills the physical and conservatory conditions for a multidisciplinary vital and internationally working exhibition center.
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