Kunsthalle Bratislava
Bratislava, Slovak Republic
associated partner
https://kunsthallebratislava.sk
Kunsthalle Bratislava (KHB) is a non-collecting state-contributory organization, an exhibition, documentary and educative type with the statewide scope of activities in the field of contemporary visual arts. The main mission is expert and goal-directed presenting of the contemporary visual arts in its width and diversity, its systematical mapping, critical reflection and making it accessible to the local and foreign public as well. One of the goals of KHB’s activities is also international support and promotion of the Slovak arts abroad. KHB is based in the exhibition and administrative spaces of the House of arts in the epicenter of Bratislava.
KHB offers group exhibitions of the contemporary arts, on themes that have ambition to active public discussion, to open topical social and cultural questions or generally to present and to reflect topical tendencies of the contemporary arts. Solo presentations of local and foreign visual artists are open to diverse interventions, experiments or even to invited exhibition guests. The intention of international contextualizing and establishing current work of artists is accompanied by the participative methods of exhibition preparations and the efforts to engage in a wider social discourse.
The criteria of the selection of exhibitions are diversity of exhibition plan, international relevance and topicali...
Kunsthalle Bratislava (KHB) is a non-collecting state-contributory organization, an exhibition, documentary and educative type with the statewide scope of activities in the field of contemporary visual arts. The main mission is expert and goal-directed presenting of the contemporary visual arts in its width and diversity, its systematical mapping, critical reflection and making it accessible to the local and foreign public as well. One of the goals of KHB’s activities is also international support and promotion of the Slovak arts abroad. KHB is based in the exhibition and administrative spaces of the House of arts in the epicenter of Bratislava.
KHB offers group exhibitions of the contemporary arts, on themes that have ambition to active public discussion, to open topical social and cultural questions or generally to present and to reflect topical tendencies of the contemporary arts. Solo presentations of local and foreign visual artists are open to diverse interventions, experiments or even to invited exhibition guests. The intention of international contextualizing and establishing current work of artists is accompanied by the participative methods of exhibition preparations and the efforts to engage in a wider social discourse.
The criteria of the selection of exhibitions are diversity of exhibition plan, international relevance and topicality of presented artworks. The exhibition profile prefers media diverse projects, which actively respond to the architectural qualities of exhibition spaces in House of Arts or they work with them in a creative and conceptual way. In the 2020, the KHB gallery board was founded as a statutory advisory body, which actively participates in creation and approval of the exhibition plan, and regulates other expert activities. The visitors are accompanied by specifically trained mediators, who are prepared to communicate and explain the contemporary arts.
KHB was first established by the decision of the Ministry of Culture on January 1, 2014, as a result of a long-term initiative of artists, theorists, and the wider cultural public for the creation of a representative exhibition space in the capital city. Originally, KHB was founded as the Slovak Visual Arts Center (SCVU) and was organizationally incorporated into the structure of the National Educational Center (NOC). Since July 2016, it was a section of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) with a special statute. KHB was at last founded by its own establishing deed as independent state-contributory organization of the Ministry of Culture under the official tittle Kunsthalle Bratislava on January 1, 2020.
Selected exhibitions:
Emília Rigová: Čohani z Koni Ajlend, curator: Nina Vrbanová
Orient 2, curator: Michal Novotný
Sissi Quartier, curators: Judit Angel, Dóra Hegyi
Eagles & Dove, curators: Lenka Kukurová, Omar Mirza
Ilona Németh: Eastern Sugar, curator: Nina Vrbanová, assistant curator: Krisztina Hunya
Štefan Papčo: Psycho-vertical, curator: Elena Sorokina, commissar of the exhibition: Nina Vrbanová
Carmella Gross: The Photographer, curator: Jacopo Crivelli Visconti
Stano Filko: 2037, curator: Nina Vrbanová
Agnès Thurnauer: Land and Language, curator: Mira Sikorová-Putišová
Kunsthalle Bratislava (KHB) is a non-collecting gallery presenting exhibitions of national and international visual artists. Based in the premises of the House of Arts in the center of Bratislava, it focuses on its mission to map visual art and make it approachable to domestic and foreign audiences. KHB stemmed from the decision of the Ministry of Culture on January 1, 2014, as a result of a long-term initiative of artists, theorists, and the wider cultural public for the creation of a representative exhibition space in the capital city. Originally, KHB was founded as the Slovak Visual Arts Center (SCVU) and was organizationally incorporated into the structure of the National Educational Center (NOC). From July 2016, it is a section of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) with a special statute.
Through its new experimental model based on participation, communication, and education, KHB popularizes and clarifies contemporary visual art, which is often seen as incomprehensible by the broader public. The visitors are accompanied by expertly trained mediators, who are ready to explain visual art to the audience. KHB's local mission is to make contemporary art approachable to the public; its international mission is to highlight Slovak visual arts through systematic networking with similar institutions and independent experts abroad.
Kunsthalle LAB is a so-called window gallery, which established communication with the passing audience through its windows. The dramaturgy primarily focuses on presenting the exhibitions of interactive and site-specific character that involve light and sound, active participation of the viewer, etc. The program also includes socio-cultural and socio-political projects that communicate towards the public space of the busy square. The program is based on a dynamic model of alternating shorter exhibitions.
Kunsthalle KLUB operates in the premises of V-Club at the National Educational Center. It makes contemporary visual art approachable through several educational formats including expert lectures, authorial presentations, public debates, screenings, etc. Furthermore, the accompanying program of KHB also includes a wide range of activities that take place in the exhibition venues – particularly exhibition guided tours led by curators, gallery pedagogues, or artists themselves with the intention to actively expand and enrich the context of exhibitions, focusing on different target groups.
KHB Education makes art approachable to different groups of adult and child visitors. The aim of the program is to reflect the selected themes of exhibitions and their interconnection with everyday and socio-cultural issues. An additional form of education also involves a creative interpretation that provides space for individual attitude, creativity, and experience of the participants. The programs are designed for families, all types of schools, young people, adults, and seniors, to whom we offer activating guided tours or customized workshops. The program Experiment Art offers workshops for adults. On the other hand, the program Kunsthalle KIDS, within which we regularly publish the so-called children’s guides, focuses on activities for the youngest visitors
