”Beyond the exhibiting of international art, Kunsthaus Göttingen sees itself as a place for education, communication and interaction with art.”
– Lotte Dinse, artistic direction
About us
Kunsthaus Göttingen is an exhibition space for works on paper, photography and new media, which opened in June 2021. The exhibitions focus on contemporary art with an international orientation. In the curatorial planning, the focus is on close cooperation with the artists themselves, who not only get a stage for their work, but also the opportunity for new productions, collaborations and interactive projects.
Each year four to four exhibitions are planned as extensive solo or group exhibitions, which are shown on three levels in spacious gallery spaces. We offer a varied accompanying programme for each exhibition, especially for children and young people. Between larger exhibitions, short INBETWEEN exhibitions are continuously shown in which selected artists can try out the forms of presentation for their work.
Here you will find our Kunsthaus flyer for download!
History
Kunsthaus Göttingen was born out of the idea of giving visual art more space and presence in the city of Göttingen. As early as 2008, the publisher Gerhard Steidl and the then-mayor Wolfgang Meyer presented the idea of an art quarter with the Kunsthaus at the focal point. The city has received funding of 4.5 million euros from the federal programme “National Projects of Urban Development” for the project planned together with Gerhard Steidl. The Duderstadt entrepreneur Hans Georg Näder supported the construction of the Kunsthaus with one million euros.
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Initiator of the Kunsthaus Göttingen
Gerhard Steidl
Through his many years of initiative in the realization of the house and through his honorary work as founding director in the initial phase, Gerhard Steidl is closely connected to the Kunsthaus, and cooperative projects are also envisaged for the future – where it fits. Gerhard Steidl runs the internationally active Steidl Verlag publishing house near the Kunsthaus Göttingen. As early as 1969, he printed posters and multiples by artists such as Joseph Beuys and Klaus Staeck, and today publishes selected art and photography volumes, literature and political non-fiction. In addition to making books, Gerhard Steidl conceives and curates exhibitions worldwide.
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In 2016, the architecture studio Atelier ST from Leipzig was awarded the contract for the architectural and general planning at the Kunsthaus Göttingen after an international architectural competition. As a regional partner for the demanding task of construction management, the Göttingen-based ONP planungs + projekt GmbH was consulted from autumn 2017. As a contact person on site, they coordinated the work so that Atelier ST could concentrate on the artistic direction in the final phase of construction.
During the founding phase and the first two years of operation, Alfons von Uslar (honorary managing director) and Dorle Meyer (authorized signatory) took over the management of the house. Significant support was provided during this time by Gerhard Steidl (Steidl Verlag) as founding director and Ute Eskildsen (formerly Folkwang Museum Essen) as founding curator, who organized the first high-profile exhibitions.
Architecture and inner courtyard
The architects Silvia Schellenberg-Thaut and Sebastian Thaut combine tradition and the contemporary in their works. This is also the case with their concept for Kunsthaus Göttingen: its external appearance transforms typical regional details and geometries from the context of Göttingen’s old town development into an independent, modern museum architecture. The Berlin landscape architect Stefan Bernard won the competition for the design of the inner courtyard in 2017.
House
The four-storey house with pointed roof is based on the neighbouring half-timbered houses – here, too, the floor area expands upwards. The grooved plaster of the façade also evokes memories of warehouses from the street and the surrounding area. The foyer of the Kunsthaus is reached via the main entrance from Düstere Straße and offers a view of the green inner courtyard on the opposite side. On the right-hand side is the first gallery. The special feature of the building are three approximately 120 m2 large and 3.20 m high column-free gallery rooms. This allows maximum flexibility in the arrangement of different exhibition concepts across all floors. To protect the works on paper and enable video installations and projections, each gallery space has only one narrow, floor-to-ceiling window that can be covered if necessary. In addition to the three galleries, the house has a smaller exhibition space. On the top floor there is also an approximately 100 m2 »forum« for mediation work and special events. The Kunsthaus Göttingen thus has a total exhibition area of 500 m2 (incl. forum).
Garden
Through the foyer of the house you reach the courtyard. The Kunsthaus shares the courtyard with the bookshop Rote Straße. The courtyard is, as it were, the garden of the house. Not far from the main shopping streets it is a green oasis, a place of informal meeting, lingering and exchange. As in the past, there is also a children’s playground – making the place of encounter even more attractive. In addition, the courtyard also offers art appreciation: here visitors can expect a special highlight with the »House of Words« – a pavilion with the spatial installation »Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets)« by the American Pop Art artist Jim Dine.
The ” House of Words” can be visited as part of special guided tours (see programme) with appropriate registration.
KuQua – Göttingen’s Art Quarter
Since 2008, Göttingen’s city council and the publisher Gerhard Steidl have been pursuing the idea of an art quarter. Located in the historic core of the city between Düstere Strasse, Nikolaikirchhof, Nikolaistrasse and Turmstrasse, the district is already considered the “nucleus” of the Göttingen art scene with the studio of Jim Dine, a framing workshop, two bookbinderies, a private gallery, a bookshop, the literature centre, the offices of the Göttingen literary festival, an international publisher and a workshop for high-quality exhibition prints as well as various cafés and other small businesses. The Günter Grass Archive, which belongs to the University of Göttingen, has been active as an exhibition and event space since 2015. In 2016, it was awarded the “Monument Preservation Prize” by the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation. Kunsthaus Göttingen enriches KuQua and thus the city of Göttingen with a central new building: a house with far-reaching appeal, whose exhibitions focus on current positions of international contemporary art of different media – an “art anchor” in southern Lower Saxony. As the heart of the art quarter, it promises a further, valuable revival of Göttingen’s cultural landscape and is thus the most important step in the development of the district. In line with the KuQua motto »A quarter becomes a whole«, Kunsthaus Göttingen is committed to a coexistence of the neighbouring institutions and focuses on joint events in the courtyard.
Team
The Kunsthaus Göttingen is headed by the managing director & artistic director Dr Dorle Meyer. The curation is partly complemented by top-class, changing guest curators. Other team members are the assistant of management Antje Mebus, art education coordinator Lisa-Marie Pfefferkorn, the event and house technician Markus Risting, the assistant Jasmin Woll and Malena Graf for social media. In addition, freelancers support the work in the areas of mediation, cash desk and supervision.
Managing Director & Artistic Director
Dorle Meyer
As Managing Director and Artistic Director, Dr Dorle Meyer manages the Kunsthaus Göttingen and the interests of the gGmbH. Dr Meyer, who holds a doctorate in art history, has worked for many years in the museum sector in addition to researching and teaching classical modernism and contemporary art. After working in Kassel and Berlin, she was most recently project manager and curator at the Deutsches Museum, where she was jointly responsible for setting up the Zukunftsmuseum Nuremberg. She returned to Göttingen in 2020 and has been involved in the organisational set-up, team development and commissioning of the museum since the gGmbH was founded, initially as an authorised signatory. Since 2022, she has been primarily responsible for the operation of the museum and its content.
Assistant to the Management
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CONTACT
+49 551 507 6887 32
(Mo-Wed 8.00AM-1PM & Thu-Fri 7.30AM-1.30PM)
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Antje Mebus
Antje Mebus supports the Kunsthaus in all matters as assistant to the management. As a trained office administrator in the field of brand and corporate communications and with a Master of Arts in art history, she has extensive expertise in both areas. She has already gained experience as an assistant at the Berlin PR agency ARTPRESS, the contemporary gallery Flieder, the renowned Berlin auction house HISTORIA and the phototheque of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence.
Exhibition Technician
Markus Risting
Markus Risting enriches the Kunsthaus team as in-house and exhibition technician. With his wide-ranging and long-standing expertise in the field of electronics and craftsmanship, he actively supports the exhibition set-ups and is the contact person for the trades. He is happy to work at the Kunsthaus to make it a more attractive venue in Göttingen, as he has been rooted in the region for decades.
Education Officer
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CONTACT
+49 551 507 6887 23
(Contact via E-Mail: Tue-Fry 10AM-3PM)
(Contact via Phone: Tue 1PM-3PM)
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Lisa-Marie Pfefferkorn
Lisa-Marie Pfefferkorn is a staff member in the field of education and outreach. She has been working as a freelance art mediator in the international arena for several years, including developing discussion formats and artistic-practical workshops for institutions in Leipzig, Peru and Bolivia. Her profile is characterized by inclusive and transcultural approaches, which she also applies to the field of design. Most recently, she worked in the field of cultural education research in rural areas at the University of Leipzig. Since mid-October 2023, she is now designing the Kunsthaus’s outreach program.
Social Media & Content Creator
Malena Graf
Malena Graf is in charge of the social media channels at the Kunsthaus. She studied Social and Cultural Anthropology and Indology in Göttingen and at the University of Pune, India. She is currently finishing her Master’s in Global Cultures at the University of Bologna, Italy, where she lived until recently.
Reception Management & Assistance
Jasmin Woll
Jasmin Woll supports the Kunsthaus in the areas of cash management and assistance. In addition to her studies in art history and history at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, she is already gaining some experience for her future professional career.
Website support
Jan-Tobias Schnoor
Tobias Schnoor looks after the website at the Kunsthaus Göttingen. He is in the final stages of his studies in philosophy and art history in Kassel and has recently started a degree in sinology in Göttingen.
Freelancers “Guided Tours”, Box Office & Supervisory Staff
The operation of the house is supported by a dedicated pool of staff in the areas of box office, supervision and guided tours. Here, students also have the opportunity to gain their first insights into the art world.
Job vacancies
Internships
Unfortunately, there are currently no capacities available for internships.
Vacancies
Check out our German page for job vacencies.
FOllow us here