Five questions on the grand opening of the SCHIRN in Bockenheim

The celebration on Sunday, September 7, was a really great party, and we were very lucky with the weather, with so many people attending, and with the timely completion of the building work. This paved the way for a parade that far exceeded our expectations. From our very first curatorial considerations about the move, we were keen to mark this transition between the locations in a tangible and performative way so that the public would witness our conscious arrival at the new location. This had to be followed by a classic exhibition, but first we wanted to celebrate this “rite of passage” with music, dancing, and as many people as possible.

It was curator Martina Weinhart who had the perfect idea for this, and as a result we presented not only Sasha Waltz & Guests, but also MEUTE and their exceptional performance. Together, this garnered a fantastic response, with many thousands of people attending!

Unlike the almost 40-year-old SCHIRN on Römerberg, the former Dondorf printing works dates back to the 19th century and has an eventful history: from its foundation by the Jewish Dondorf family, to the Union Druckerei trade union printworks, then the Nazi period, and the building’s use by Goethe University with the Institute for Art Education – and now finally the SCHIRN moving in temporarily as an art gallery. It is a place that is also important to civil society, which recently campaigned hard for the preservation of this historic building and prevented its demolition, making it possible for us to move in. For the City of Frankfurt and the State of Hessen, this also forms part of future prospects for the so-called Kulturcampus, connecting to a vision whereby the old university site is to be culturally revitalized and be dedicated to new uses. One of the challenges was therefore to reconcile these different requirements.

This location turned out to be the right interim solution for us and we have upgraded it especially for this purpose. As with the Römer, here we can show two parallel exhibitions. With our modernization of the building, we have also been able to perform important and lasting work paving the way for its subsequent use, and we’re now excited about bringing it to life with our program and together with the neighborhood and our visitors. At the same time, construction work will be continuing behind the scenes, as we are working on the major project to renovate the energy efficiency of our primary location downtown at the Römer.

We wanted to open the former university building out to the neighborhood. First of all, we had to ensure all five floors – from the attic to the basement, including the outbuildings – were cleared of any toxic materials, which primarily involved removing asbestos. This also quite literally uncovered the charm of the industrial architecture, and we have now arranged the interior so that you can see the cast-iron columns, brick walls, and dome-like ceilings. We then removed many of the partition walls to free up the exhibition space on the first floor and the open spaces at ground floor, which we can use flexibly for events and education purposes. New additions included air conditioning and ventilation, a security concept, and a fire alarm system, as well as new, barrier-free entrances and a café. We’ve also incorporated our lounge and the courtyard – places where people can linger at their leisure. Everything is therefore perfectly set for our forthcoming exhibitions and our visitors.

The new location has an open feel, and its industrial charm immediately brings to mind the pioneering and optimistic years in Berlin after German reunification, or Brooklyn in New York, where an old school building was renovated for MoMA PS1. In our modernized building, we are best placed to forge links with the Bockenheim district. We are offering an innovative educational program, special events with music and public discussions, and the exhibitions in the core program. I hope that these will lure our SCHIRN FANS to Bockenheim, but also that new visitors will discover us and lots of people will come. We want people to see that this special place creates special moments and brings people together in a lasting way.

We will continue to run our high-quality exhibition program of modern and international contemporary art, which kicks off this AutumnAugust with the exhibition by the Filipino-Canadian video artist Stephanie Comilang, followed by the retrospective on Dada pioneer Suzanne Duchamp from 10 October. A particularly nice new idea is that every first Friday of the month we’ll be offering the second ticket free of charge for pairs of visitors. In addition to the exhibitions, however, there are also events like the Summer Hangouts and B Day, which is a neighborhood celebration here in Bockenheim on 20 September. We have also repositioned the MINISCHIRN for our youngest visitors and made it mobile. Also coming soon is the children’s Halloween party! You’ll find all the relevant information on our website and of course in the newsletter.