About

The Kunstmuseum and the Kunsthalle Appenzell are two institutions with different characters and artistic programmes. The Heinrich Gebert Kulturstiftung Appenzell is the supporting body of both centres.

The artistic programmes are characterised by a variety of different exhibition formats and media; concepts that are often developed in close collaboration with artists and allow for experimentation. All exhibitions and activities are committed to topicality and a contemporary view of artistic creation from modernism to the present. In a rural area with traditional values, the two institutions form an important meeting point and are dynamic places for encounters, cultural experiences and the exchange of ideas. The Kunstmuseum and Kunsthalle Appenzell radiate beyond the local – also through their cooperation partner Fondazione Marguerite Arp in Locarno – and bring multifaceted perspectives to the agricultural terrain. The institutions offer visitors of all ages access to contemporary and Modern Art through exhibitions, workshops, events, education and publications. The Kunstmuseum and the Kunsthalle Appenzell take on public and educational tasks and are intended to be open to as many and as varied groups as possible.

As a multi-disciplinary institution, the Kunsthalle offers a musical concert programme in addition to contemporary art exhibitions. Twelve concerts and three Matinees with young musicians are dedicated to classical music, its continuation and variations in contemporary music. The rooms in the old building of the Kunsthalle also accommodate a small library and the paper workshop, which are open to the public free of charge and which children and adults can use independently.

The Heinrich Gebert Kulturstiftung Appenzell preserves and promotes architectural and industrial history with its monuments Kunstmuseum and Kunsthalle Appenzell. While the Kunstmuseum is a contemporary building designed by the architects Gigon/Guyer, Zurich, the Kunsthalle was an early industrial building ensemble that was gradually built around the brick kiln of 1566 according to the bricolage system. It has been preserved and restored together with the important production facilities such as the pan grinder, brick press, paternoster lift and kiln.

The Kunstmuseum Appenzell offers room for monographic and thematic temporary exhibitions ranging from modern to contemporary art. The contemporary view on the collection, cooperations with institutions, organisations or artists, as well as joint regional formats, grant or scholarship exhibitions are focal points. The collection of works by the two Appenzell representatives of Modern Art, Carl August Liner and Carl Walter Liner, which formed the starting point for the establishment of the two museums, is approached with collaborative projects and participation.

With its regional, national and international exhibitions, the Kunsthalle Appenzell focuses on contemporary art and the exchange between artists and the public. The Kunsthalle is a multi-disciplinary venue in which contemporary art operates in a productive interplay with music, literature and social space.

As a place of innovative creation, the Kunstmuseum and Kunsthalle Appenzell provide access to contemporary and Modern Art for all age groups and as diverse an audience as possible through exhibitions, publications, events and art mediation activities. The core of the art mediation is the personal experience with art as well as combining knowledge, thinking and creativity with enjoyment of life.

In addition to artist talks, guided public tours in different languages, gatherings with the curator at the public K Bar once a month, pottery workshops and guided tours of architecture and architectural monuments, the art mediation offers workshops for school classes and leisure programmes for children (Goofe-Atelier) that combine exhibition visits and hands-on activities in the studio. Intergenerational offers such as the TiM-Tamdem cooperation, family offers or the Lapurla early education programme complement the offers together with playful materials for the individual museum visit. Regional cooperations and partnerships are of central importance: there exist exchanges and joint formats with the Asylum Centre and Pro Senectute Appenzell Innerrhoden, as well as the inter-institutional holiday programme "Children's Culture Days" (Kinderkulturtage) in the Appenzellerland, which was initiated by the Kunstmuseum / Kunsthalle Appenzell.

The collection of art of the Heinrich Gebert Kulturstiftung Appenzell includes works by artists of classical modernism, the Swiss and international avant-garde and contemporary art. The collection focuses on painting and sculpture.

In addition to modernist art by Piet Mondrian, Alexander Calder, Hans Arp and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, among others, there are works by various representatives of post-war modernism, such as Antoni Tàpies, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Eduardo Chillida, Frank Stella, Pierre Alechinsky, Theodoros Stamos, Willi Baumeister, Matias Spescha, Gottfried Honegger, Erwin Rehmann and Hugo Weber. The collection is complemented by Swiss and German contemporary artists such as Kerim Seiler, Dominik Stauch, Margret Eicher, Stefan Steiner, Stefan Inauen, Robert B. Käppeli and Beat Zoderer, but also by international contemporary positions such as Alice Channer or Liz Craft.

The Kunstmuseum and the Kunsthalle Appenzell are committed to the scientific research, the innovative representation and the editorial dissemination of the work of the two Appenzell representatives of Modern Art, Carl August Liner and Carl Walter Liner. The Heinrich Gebert Kulturstiftung Appenzell owns more than 1000 paintings, drawings, watercolours and gouaches.