The Steinernes Haus
Home to the association since nineteen sixty-two.
Norbert Miguletz (Foto) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vincent van Gogh — Public domain · Norbert Miguletz (Foto), Joko Avianto (Skulptur) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · de:Benutzer:Smalltown Boy (Diskussion) — CC0
The Frankfurter Kunstverein is a contemporary art institution in the Steinernes Haus, right on the edge of the Roemerberg. A Kunstverein in the German tradition is not a museum but a members' association, founded in the nineteenth century to back living artists and show their work before official museums would recognise them. That origin explains the boldness of the programme and how much faster it moves than the large institutions. The association has occupied the Steinernes Haus since nineteen sixty-two and has around eight hundred square metres of gallery space for solo and group shows by international artists. Its distinctive line in recent years has been the meeting point of art with the natural sciences and living technologies: exhibitions built around climate, organisms and artificial intelligence rather than pictures on a wall. Expect installations, sound and screen-based work more often than painting. Visiting is quick and practical. Tickets are ten euros, six reduced, and free for members and children under six. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from eleven to seven, with Thursday until nine, and closes Mondays. Some exhibitions run on headphones collected at the desk against a cash deposit or an identity document, so carry twenty euros in notes as a precaution. The location is in the middle of the old town, two minutes from the Roemerberg.
Home to the association since nineteen sixty-two.
Shows built on climate, organisms and artificial intelligence.
Steinernes Haus am Roemerberg, Markt 44, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
Fountain of JusticeThe Fountain of Justice stands at the centre of Römerberg in front of the Römer,1 minute walk4.8
RömerbergThe Römerberg is the Frankfurt picture you know before you arrive: the square of1 minute walk4.7
Struwwelpeter MuseumThe Struwwelpeter Museum is devoted to the most famous German children's book of1 minute walk4.6
Schirn Kunsthalle FrankfurtThe Schirn is not a museum in the ordinary sense, because it owns no permanent c1 minute walk4.3
Old St Nicholas ChurchThe small red-roofed church on the south side of the Roemerberg is older than th1 minute walk4.7Neither has a permanent collection, but the Schirn is a large hall staging big shows on established names, while the Kunstverein is smaller and far more experimental, showing living artists early in their careers. The practical difference right now is that the Kunstverein is still on the Roemerberg while the Schirn has moved temporarily to Bockenheim.