The origins of today’s Art Cologne as a trade fair for classic modern art, post-war art and contemporary art go back to the year 1967. Kunstmarkt Köln ’67 was launched on 15 September 1967 in a historic Cologne building – the Gürzenich. In medieval times it served as an arena for festivities, banquets and dances. Later, it served as a merchants’ hall.
The launch of the Kunstmarkt Köln ’67 was to have a profound impact on the international art market. The founders of the new fair were Cologne-based gallerists – Hein Stünke and Rudolf Zwirner. Their project was sparked by the urgency of the need to put new life into the lacklustre art market in West Germany. Although the immediate post-war period saw a tremendous revival in art and radical changes to public attitudes to modern art, the art market in West Germany faltered.
Paris was at the cusp of losing its central role as the capital of the modern art world and modern French art was about to lose market leadership. This occurred in the wake of documenta 2 in 1959. With the boom in modern American art, New York took over as the new art capital. At the end of the war West Germany had lost its capital city and its cultural foci. With Bonn as the new capital city, the Rhineland – an industrial powerhouse at the centre of Europe driving the West German economy and acting as a hub for the entire western European economy – took over as the centre of the West German art world.
Even today, North Rhine-Westphalia and its neighbouring federal states have very high concentrations of business and industry – and art collectors. In the early 1960s these were ideal preconditions for any art market project. Stünke and Zwirner’s initial plans were of a short-term nature but their long-term aim was to promote the new art being produced by young German artists. They intended to introduce these artists to an international market and to attract new buyers to their work. They vastly exceeded their expectations – their project made history. Art Cologne E has played a decisive role in the development of the international art market and has had a formative influence on all later art-market developments.
The full list of participating galleries:
Hall 11.2 Contemporary Art
1301PE, Los Angeles
A arte Invernizzi, Milan
acb, Budapest
Akinci, Amsterdam
Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen/Berlin
Anhava, Helsinki
Artelier Contemporary, Graz
Jürgen Becker, Hamburg
Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
BLAIN|SOUTHERN, Berlin/London
Niels Borch Jensen, Copenhagen/Berlin
Jean Brolly, Paris
Daniel Buchholz, Cologne/Berlin
Buchmann, Berlin
Shane Campbell, Chicago
CANADA, New York
Gisela Capitain, Cologne
Capitain Petzel, Berlin
CONRADS, Düsseldorf
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
Cosar HMT, Düsseldorf
Crone, Berlin/Vienna
DEWEER, Otegem
EIGEN + ART, Berlin/Leipzig
fiebach, minninger, Cologne
Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf/Berlin
Laurent Godin, Paris
Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt a.M.
Karsten Greve, Cologne/Paris/St. Moritz
Barbara Gross, Munich
Haas, Zürich/Berlin
Häusler Contemporary, Zurich/Munich
Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne
Jack Hanley, New York
Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich/London/New York
Jochen Hempel, Leipzig
Max Hetzler, Berlin/Paris
Fred Jahn, Munich
Kadel Willborn, Düsseldorf
mike karstens, Münster
Kerlin, Dublin
KLEMM’S, Berlin
Klüser, Munich
Sabine Knust, Munich
König, Berlin
Christine König, Vienna
Koenig & Clinton, New York
Krinzinger, Vienna
Krobath, Vienna
Kromus + Zink, Berlin
Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck
Pearl Lam, Hong Kong/Shanghai
Lange + Pult, Zurich
Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden/Berlin
Christian Lethert, Cologne
Löhrl, Mönchengladbach
Linn Lühn, Düsseldorf
Maior, Pollença
Marlborough Contemporary, London
Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf
MOT INTERNATIONAL, London/Brüssel
Vera Munro, Hamburg
nächst St. Stephan, Vienna
Nagel Draxler, Cologne/Berlin
NEU, Berlin
Carolina Nitsch, New York
David Nolan, New York
Nosbaum & Reding, Luxemburg
OMR, Mexico City
Onrust, Amsterdam
Roslyn Oxley9, Paddington
Paragon, London
Priska Pasquer, Cologne
PERROTIN, Paris
Giorgio Persano, Turin
Produzentengalerie, Hamburg
Thomas Rehbein, Cologne
Petra Rinck, Düsseldorf
David Risley, Copenhagen
Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg/Paris
Philipp von Rosen, Cologne
Brigitte Schenk, Cologne
Anke Schmidt, Cologne
SCHÖNEWALD, Düsseldorf
Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf
Slewe, Amsterdam
Sprüth Magers, Berlin/London/Los Angeles
Nils Stærk, Copenhagen
Jacky Strenz, Frankfurt
Suzanne Tarasiève, Paris
Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck/Vienna
Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt
Tucci Russo, Torre Pellice
VAN HORN, Düsseldorf
Fons Welters, Amsterdam
WENTRUP, Berlin
Michael Werner, Cologne
Thomas Zander, Cologne
David Zwirner, New York/London
Hall 11.1 Modern & Postwar Art
Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf
Klaus Benden, Cologne
Bernheimer Fine Art, Lucerne
Boisserée, Cologne
BORZO, Amsterdam
Ben Brown Fine Arts, London/Hong Kong
Dierking, Zurich
Johannes Faber, Vienna
Fischer Kunsthandel & Edition, Berlin
Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin
Hagemeier, Frankfurt a.M.
Henze + Ketterer, Bern/Wichtrach/Riehen
Heinz Holtmann, Cologne
Akira Ikeda, Berlin/Tokyo/New York
Koch, Hannover
KONZETT, Vienna
Lahumière, Paris
LEVY, Hamburg
Ludorff, Düsseldorf
Maulberger, Munich
Moderne, Silkeborg
Montrasio Arte, Milan
Georg Nothelfer, Berlin
Remmert und Barth, Düsseldorf
Repetto, London
Margarete Roeder, New York
Ruberl, Vienna
Thomas Salis, Salzburg
Samuelis Baumgarte, Bielefeld
Aurel Scheibler, Berlin
Schlichtenmaier, Grafenau
Michael Schultz, Berlin
Schwarzer, Düsseldorf
SETAREH, Düsseldorf
Simonis, Düsseldorf
Sims Reed, London
Staeck, Heidelberg
Hans Strelow, Düsseldorf
Florian Sundheimer, Munich
Hollis Taggart, New York
taguchi fine art, Tokyo
Galerie Thomas, Munich
Utermann, Dortmund
Valentien, Stuttgart
von Vertes, Zurich
Axel Vervoordt, Antwerp/Hong Kong
Whitestone, Hong Kong/Tokyo
Hall level 11.3: New Contemporaries
Aanant & Zoo, Berlin
Bischoff Projects, Frankfurt
Thomas Brambilla, Bergamo
Bernard Ceysson, Luxemburg
Chert, Berlin
CLAGES, Cologne
Hezi Cohen, Tel Aviv
DUVE, Berlin
EXILE, Berlin
FUTURE, Berlin
Ginerva Gambino, Cologne
Andreas Huber, Vienna
Jan Kaps, Cologne
kisterem, Budapest
Alexander Levy, Berlin
Markus Lüttgen, Cologne
Max Mayer, Düsseldorf
NANZUKA, Tokyo
Sariev Contemporary, Plovdiv
Deborah Schamoni, Munich
Southard Reid, London
Soy Capitán, Berlin
SpazioA, Pistoia
Supplement, London
tegenboschvanvreden, Amsterdam
Rob Tufnell, London
Waldburger Wouters, Brussels
Kate Werble, New York
Evelyn Yard, London
Hall level 11.3: Collaborations
Samy Abraham, Paris + Triple V, Paris
Andriesse Eyck, Amsterdam, Guido W. Baudach, Berlin, + Susanne Zander, Köln, Delmes & Zander, Berlin
BolteLang, Zürich + Limoncello, London
DREI, Köln + Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City
Thomas Erben, New York + Jahveri Contemporary, Mumbai
Daniel Faria, Toronto + PSM, Berlin
The Green Gallery, Milwaukee + Marlborough Chelsea, New York
Bruce Haines, Mayfair, London, Halsey McKay, East Hampton + V1, Kopenhagen
The Hole, New York, Hollybush Gardens, London, Natalia Hug, Cologne + MIER Gallery, Los Angeles
Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam + Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam
Kalfayan, Athens + Mirko Mayer, Cologne
KOW, Berlin + Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin
Nicolas Krupp, Basel + Warhus Rittershaus, Cologne
Lokal_30, Warsaw + LeGuern, Warsaw
Lullin+Ferrari, Zurich + Sommer & Kohl, Berlin
Daniel Marzona, Berlin + RaebervonStenglin, Zurich
Tobias Naehring, Leipzig + Aurel Scheibler, Berlin
Neon Parc, Melbourne, Berthold Pott, Cologne + Ruttkowski;68, Cologne
The Art Cologne 2016 takes place from Thursday, 14 April to Sunday, 17 April, 2016
Vernissage Wednesday, 13 April 2016, 04:00 – 08:00 p.m.
Opening times: Thu- Sat 11:00 a.m. – 07:00 p.m, Sun 11:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m.