Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
This publication gathers together 18 essays about the Kunsthalle Bern as a role model and a place for artistic intervention and production, elaborating the examinations to which numerous international artists have subjected the building itself.
Synopsis
The centenary of the Kunsthalle Bern in 2018 calls for a reflection upon how its specificity has decisively shaped the notion of contemporaneity. Unlike collecting museums, Kunsthallen are associated with negotiations around the formal and social positioning of contemporary art. This scholarly publication discusses the historical development of the Kunsthalle Bern and its implications for the 'localisation' of art. It contributes to current research on institutional histories by looking at the many ways in which the Kunsthalle Bern addresses the question of how exhibitionary practices take place. A broad range of international authors draw on the archives of the Kunsthalle Bern itself and put it in the context of other paradigms of display, thus offering an insight into how the Kunsthalle Bern acts as a stage for artistic practice, and functions as a model for the performance of contemporaneity.