Working with the Archive and the Institution’s History

The ongoing archival work is a rather recent focus of the Kunstverein München. Anniversaries have offered an occasion to look back at one’s own history. Telling Histories, the exhibition initiated by Maria Lind in 2003 for the 180-year anniversary, situated itself in this continuity. After Alexander Wagner was initially entrusted with the administration of archive material as the first employee from 2016, the expansion of this position was made possible by a donation from board member Martina Fuchs. The great interest of the then director Chris Fritzpatrick in the archival work of the Kunstverein provided decisive impetus. From 2017 to 2019, Theresa Bauernfeind was responsible for the archive of the Kunstverein and created a large part of its current administrative structure.

In preparation for the 200th anniversary in 2023, director Maurin Dietrich and curator Gloria Hasnay sharpened the institution’s focus on its archive. This manifested both structurally in the continuous digitization and acquisition of archive materials, as well as programmatically in exhibitions such as The Archive As … (2023) and event-based formats such as Agentur der Dokumente (2024).

The Archive Space, designed by Julian Göthe, was an integral part of the Kunstverein München from 2020 to 2025 and provided a concrete location for the mediation and preservation of the Kunstverein’s more than 200-year history. The Archive Space also created space for public formats conceived in collaboration with archivists, (art) historians, and artists. These formats enabled the Kunstverein to reflect on its own institutional history as well as the gaps in it. Combining preservation and events in the same place enabled a reflexive examination of the task and urgency of the institution’s form in relation to the historical context. In addition, each exhibition was accompanied by a presentation of related material in the Archive Space.

In addition, a distinct, archivist position was created in 2020. This position was filled from 2020 to 2022 by Adrian Djukić and from 2022 to 2024 by Johanna Klinger und Jonas von Lenthe. Since 2025, the Archive of Kunstverein München has been managed by Leona Koldehoff.

The discussion with Doreen Mende, Maurin Dietrich and Gloria Hasnay The Archive as … a Recording Device as well as text On the Origins and Methodology of the Kunstverein München Archive in the anniversary catalog FOR NOW. 200 Years Kunstverein München by Johanna Klingler and Jonas von Lenthe provide more in-depth insights into the archive work of the Kunstverein in recent years.

Retrieving and examining Nazi structures within the Kunstverein in the first half of the 20th century has been a central aspect of the archival work. While the institutional history is relatively well documented for the nineteenth century, the Archive of Kunstverein München contains only limited material for the period between 1907 and 1969. The basis for the historical examination during the Nazi era is therefore largely formed by documents from other archives. In this context, the artist Bea Schlingelhoff’s investigation into the Kunstverein’s structure and Nazi history in the course of her 2021 exhibition No River to Cross deserves mentioning. Another important step in the reappraisal process is the text by art historian Christian Fuhrmeister entitled The Kunstverein München During the Nazi Era. What to Ask? How to do Research?, which was published in the anniversary publication FOR NOW. 200 Years of Kunstverein München in 2023. In the Archive Newsletter, Art and Continuities at Kunstverein München around 1950, Leona Koldehoff examines the persistence of artistic and social networks across changing political systems, as well as the exhibition programme in the postwar period.

Under the tab “Program,“ a chronicle of past exhibitions since the institution’s founding is also available and continuously updated.