Kunsthaus Essen

The Kunsthaus Essen stands in the Rellinghausen district of Essen, a converted school building designed by Oskar Schwer in the 1920s. Its red-brick façade and large windows still show the marks of its past as the Städtische Knabenmittelschule Essen-Süd. After the Second World War the school ran in shifts for years, until a new building was finished in 1954. The old classrooms now hold studios, a dance hall and a pottery kiln. The house began in 1977 when ten artists founded a collective to share workshops and ideas. Their first show was in Bochum, but by 1978 they had moved into a former laundry in Essen’s city centre. Over the years Helge Schneider, Pigeon Drop and Harald Schmidt appeared on its small stage. The building’s move to Rellinghausen in the mid-1980s turned it into a recognised place for contemporary art. Today sixteen studios, a recording room and a residency flat keep the programme alive. Visitors find changing exhibitions of painting, sculpture and performance, often built around a theme. Every Monday evening the café hosts MontagTontag, a free concert series that has run since 2010. The rooms keep the school’s original layout, with high ceilings and wide corridors. Outside, the quiet Rübezahlstraße sits among villas from the early 20th century. Inside, the mix of old brick and new art shows how a school can become a lively art centre.