The Deichtorhallen in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, is one of Europe's largest art centers for

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

and

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

. The two historical buildings dating from 1911 to 1913 are notable examples of

industrial architecture Industrial architecture is the design and construction of buildings facilitating the needs of the industrial sector. The architecture revolving around the industrial world uses a variety of building designs and styles to consider the safe flow, d ...

from the transitional period between Art Nouveau and 20th-century design, with their open steel-and-glass structures. Their architecture creates a backdrop for spectacular major international exhibitions. In 2003 the southern hall was dedicated to the medium of photography, creating the House of Photography. Since 2011, the two buildings at the interface of Hamburg's Kunstmeile and

Hafencity HafenCity () is a Boroughs and quarters of Hamburg, quarter in the borough of Hamburg-Mitte, Hamburg, Germany. It is located on the Elbe river island Grasbrook, on the former Port of Hamburg area. It was formally established in 2008 and also incl ...

have been supplemented by a satellite in Hamburg's Harburg district, the Sammlung Falckenberg.

History

Between 1911 and 1914, the "''Deichtorhallen''" ("the levee gate halls") were built as market halls on the grounds of the former Berliner Bahnhof railway station, Hamburg's counterpart to Berlin's

Hamburger Bahnhof Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart is the former Train station#Terminus, terminus of the Berlin–Hamburg Railway in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstrasse in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as ...

. They constitute one of the few surviving examples of

from the transitional period between

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

and 20th century styles. The two halls are open steel structures, the northern hall is a longitudinal edifice boasting three naves and a 3,800 m² footprint; the southern hall (1,800 m²) is a building with a lantern roof. Rupprecht Matthies created two "language cylinders" visitors can walk through for Deichtorplatz, which is also home to a

Richard Serra Richard Serra (November 2, 1938 – March 26, 2024) was an American artist known for his large-scale Abstract art, abstract sculptures made for Site-specific art, site-specific landscape, urban, and Architecture, architectural settings, a ...

sculpture. In the northern hall, there is a line of neon writing by Mario Merz and a "Blue Disc" by Imi Knoebel. The Körber Foundation gifted the restored Deichtorhallen to the City of Hamburg. In 1989, they were assigned to a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

: Deichtorhallen-Ausstellungs GmbH. On 9 November 1989, Deichtorhallen's international art exhibition program opened with the show "''Einleuchten''", curated by

Harald Szeemann Harald Szeemann (11 June 1933 – 18 February 2005) was a Swiss curator, artist, and art history, art historian. Having curated more than 200 exhibitions, many of which have been characterized as groundbreaking, Szeemann is said to have helped red ...

. Deichtorhallen Hamburg has emerged as an exhibition center for photography and contemporary art with three pillars of activities, three institutions under the single Deichtorhallen brand. Since 2009, Dirk Luckow has been artistic director of Deichtorhallen Hamburg.

Exhibitions (selection)

Wolfgang Tillmans Wolfgang Tillmans (born 16 August 1968) is a German Fine-art photography, photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations. Tillman ...

(2001) *

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

(2004) * Martin Munkácsi (2005) * Jonathan Meese (2006) *

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his ...

(2007) * Erwin Wurm (2007) * Fischli & Weiss (2008) * F. C. Gundlach (2008) * Lillian Bassman / Paul Himmel (2009) * Herbert Tobias (2009) * Katharina Fritsch (2009) * Nobuyoshi Araki (2010) * Poul Gernes (2010) * Julia Stoschek Collection (2010) *

Gilbert & George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942) are artists who work together as the collaborative art duo Gilbert & George. They are known for their formal appearance ...

(2011) * Marilyn Minter (2011) * Anselm Reyle (2012) * Horizon Field Hamburg by

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...

(2012) * Sarah Moon (2015) *

Hanne Darboven Hanne Darboven (29 April 1941 – 9 March 2009) was a German conceptual artist, best known for her large-scale minimalist installations consisting of handwritten tables of numbers. Early life and career Darboven was born in 1941 in Munich. She ...

(2017) * Sarah Morris (2023)

References

External links

Official site of Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Culture in Hamburg Buildings and structures in Hamburg-Mitte Museums in Hamburg Art museums and galleries established in 1989 Art museums and galleries in Germany 1989 establishments in West Germany Tourist attractions in Hamburg Art Nouveau architecture in Hamburg Art Nouveau retail buildings Commercial buildings completed in 1914 {{Hamburg-struct-stub