Salzburger Kunstverein

Salzburger Kunstverein is located on Hellbrunner Straße 3 near the Nonntaler Bridge on the southern border of Salzburg’s old town. The Gründerzeit structure, built in 1885, is situated next to today’s district court.

The Salzburg Art Association’s structural home is the Salzburg Artists’ House.Sigmund Graf Thun-Hohenstein came up with the concept of creating an artists’ residence, despite the fact that the Kunstverein’s financial status was not ideal at the time.The committee for the construction of the artists’ residence included, in addition to the originator, art association board member Ritter von Negrelli, association treasurer Ludwig Zeller, and Matthias Gschnitzer, Hyazinth Michel, Josef Mayburger, and Franz von Pausinger.The notion of hosting a construction lottery raised half of the building expenditures.Archduke Ludwig Victor assumed control of the building protectorate.As the local architect, Hyazinth became Michel (* 1846, Freistadt ; 1904, Linz), who was professionally demonstrated by multiple villa projects and was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Franz Joseph Order for his services to the building.Construction began in 1884, and ownership of the Künstlerhaus was given to the Salzburger Kunstverein on August 1, 1885.

A skylight was installed in the exhibition hall planned at the time on the mezzanine floor.It was flanked by studios for artists.The aim of building not just a permanent exhibition space, but also creative spaces for financially disadvantaged artists and a secretariat space for the Salzburg Artists’ House was realized.However, there were heated debates as the artists protested about inappropriate windows, inadequate heating in the upper rooms, and other issues.

The flood of 1899 caused extensive damage to the Künstlerhaus, which was first paid for by the flood fund but proved a hefty burden for the Kunstverein in the long term, in addition to the responsibility to repay the building expenses.This even prompted the Kunstverein to make multiple unsuccessful attempts to sell the facility.

Between 1971 and 1974, the Künstlerhaus had its first major makeover.The exhibition hall’s natural light-filled ceiling was lowered to make way for six additional artists’ studios.Subsequent repair work included stabilizing the subsoil, remodeling the entry area, and enlarging the Café Cult (Elsa Prochazka) from 1995 to 1999.The refurbishment was finished in 2001.

The new artists’ house idea envisions the artists’ house as a center for the production, mediation, and exhibition of current worldwide and regional art, as well as all connected areas, in Salzburg.The Künstlerhaus additionally has 24 studios, 20 of which are exclusively given to Salzburger Kunstverein members (typically for three years with a one-time extension option).

The Salzburger Kunstverein has united with other cultural organizations to establish the Künstlerhaus Neu since 2001.Gold additional, the Salzburg Architecture Initiative, and the ARTgenossen mediation group are also members.Later, wohnbund:consult (the office for urban space development, founded in 2002), ohnetitel (the network for theater and art initiatives, founded in 2008), and oenm (the Austrian ensemble for new music, founded in 2011).This is done to generate synergistic effects and to fulfill the public’s need for a varied variety of products.All of these projects have studio space at the Künstlerhaus.A “public library” was established in front of the Künstlerhaus in 2011, where anybody may borrow books.