Bonner Kunstverein

Bonner Kunstverein is a non-profit, member-based institution dedicated to promoting contemporary art, its practitioners, and the associated discourses. With over 1,000 members and based on three intertwined pillars—the exhibition space, the studio building, and the Artothek—it defines itself as a site of production, experimentation, mediation, as well as artistic and social exchange. Founded in 1963 amid Bonn’s unique historical situation as the provisional capital, and thus a city in which a young democracy took shape, the Kunstverein’s approach to art is firmly rooted in civic engagement and guided by continuous reflection on participation and accessibility.

For over six decades, Bonner Kunstverein has shaped and supported local and international art discourse. Its embeddedness in the region’s social and cultural fabric and due to its international reach, it derives a responsibility: to serve as an open space where ideas can emerge, circulate, and enter into dialogue.

At the centre of its activities are the production, presentation, mediation and discussion of contemporary artistic positions. Bonner Kunstverein has a distinguished history for organising timely, topical group exhibitions as well as of being the location for many artists' first major solo exhibitions in Germany by internationally renowned artists such as Hanne Darboven, Heimo Zobernig, Leiko Ikemura, Jürgen Klauke, Christian Boltanski, Katharina Sieverding, Nancy Spero, Dieter Roth, Anna Oppermann, Thomas Ruff, Ida Applebroog, Miriam Cahn, Kiki Smith, Marlene Dumas, Mark Dion, Anne Collier, Ryan Gander, Klara Lidén, Olaf Nicolai, Christopher Williams, Gregor Schneider, Ed Atkins, Charlene von Heyl, Jana Euler, Haegue Yang, Raphaela Vogel, David Medalla, Tolia Astakhishvili, and Gregg Bordowitz. The exhibition programme is complemented by events, publications, educational offers, and collaborations at local, national and international levels.

As part of the regional art and cultural landscape, the Kunstverein fosters artistic production within the region. Beginning in 1985, the Peter Mertes Fellowship has supported two emerging Rhineland-based artists each year with an exhibition and production grant. Past recipients include Corinne Wasmuht, Frances Scholz, Carsten Höller, Gregor Schneider, Sonja Alhäuser, Monika Baer, Matti Braun, Friedrich Kunath, Thea Djordjadze, Gert and Uwe Tobias, Natalie Czech, Phug-Tien Phan, Tobias Hohn & Stanton Taylor, and Simon Lässig.

Founded in 1987, the Artothek comprises a collection of over 2,000 works, and as a lending library for art, it gives the Kunstverein's members direct access to contemporary art by letting them borrow works of art to display at home. Among the artists represented in the collection are Isa Genzken, Nan Goldin, Rebecca Horn, Martin Kippenberger, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Thomas Ruff, and Luc Tuymans.

Since 2004, the Kunstverein has also operated a studio building with eight subsidized workspaces, offering artists affordable studios and a space for production and exchange. Each year, the Atelierhaus invites the public to an Open Studios event where the artists present their work.

The significant role of the Bonner Kunstverein for both local and international artists and audiences has been recognized in recent years—among other honors, with the “Special Exhibition” award of the Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art (AICA) for David Medalla – Parables of Friendship (2021) and with the ADKV Prize for Germany’s Best Kunstverein (2022).

The Bonner Kunstverein owes its outstanding position not least to its previous directors Margarethe Jochimsen (1978–1986), Annelie Pohlen (1986–2004), Christina Végh (2005–2015), Michelle Cotton (2015–2019), and Fatima Hellberg (2019–2025), each of whom has shaped, transformed, and internationally positioned the institution in distinct ways. Since spring 2025, Viktor Neumann has served as Director of the Bonner Kunstverein.

Team

Director
Viktor Neumann

Curator
Janice Mitchell

Technical Manager
Günter Maria Wagner

Head of Artothek
Heike Kirchhoff

Membership Administration
Felix Miebach

Accounting
Klaus Peter Weber

Invigilators
Dana Engeland
Friederike Luise Lang
Lena Steffen

Board
Dr. Anke Schierholz (Chair)
Gisela Clement (Vice Chair)
Thomas Weppelmann (Treasurer)
Marie-Theres Rau (Secretary)
Dr. Nicolai Besgen
Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Bonnet
Julia Krings
Prof. Dr. Markus Nöthen
Dr. Antonia Nolte
Frances Scholz

Bonner Kunstverein
Hochstadenring 22
D–53119 Bonn

Öffnungszeiten:
Dienstag–Sonntag, 12-18 Uhr

Artothek:
Freitag 14-19 Uhr
Samstag 11-16 Uhr

Tel. +49 228 693936
kontakt@bonner-kunstverein.de

Impressum/Datenschutzerklärung