Kunsthalle Bratislava
Kunsthalle Bratislava is a state-funded cultural institution without a permanent collection, focused on presenting a wide range of contemporary art approaches. It is situated in the historic House of Arts building, established in 1958, located in the most vivid part of the city center. Kunsthalle Bratislava strives to formulate new dialogical trajectories among various geographies or political positions; its goal is to function as an inclusive communal space of immersion and engagement between (non)professionals. The institution’s cultural path, besides the temporal exhibition dramaturgy, focuses on collaborations with other institutions, cross-disciplinary relationships and mediation of discursive and learning exchange.
The architectural project of the House of Art in Bratislava dates back to 1958 and its realisation and completion took place in 1965. The first excavation works on the building started on 8 August on Stalin Square (the former name of today’s SNP Square). The author of the construction is the Slovak architect Miloš Chorvát. In the case of the House of Art in Bratislava, it is one of the few architectural objects that were built exclusively for the function of presenting visual arts (many galleries in Slovakia are housed in spaces that were designed with a different intention). This design orientation predetermined its architectural features in terms of the contemporary character of art and exhibition practices (e.g. the element of the ring/gallery around the central hall), today’s exhibition space A RING. The building has the shape of an elongated hexagon and a lower height character. The function of the building also determined the use of natural light, which enters the building from the ceiling of the central hall (A HALL), the ceiling of the perimeter exhibition hall on the second floor and the side windows. The natural light on the first floor could be regulated by the side slats, which form its most prominent architectural element from the outside. The main entrance is from SNP Square and leads to the social area and exhibition spaces. The first and second floors of the House of Art are the venue for a wide range of exhibition projects, dominated by a central hall allowing the presentation of large-scale works. Today, part of the exhibition space is also A WINDOW gallery.