About Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg

The KunstLANDing is located in the streets of Aschaffenburg next to the Schlossmuseum and the Kunsthalle Jesuitenkirche. The house was built in 1872 and has an eventful history. The classicistic building served as a brewery, post office, school and youth center. Before the Neue Kunstverein Aschaffenburg e.V. (NKV) moved in, it stood empty for two years. The approximately 1000m² house is divided into three floors and offers plenty of space for the presentation of pictures, sculptures and it also provides conditions for arranging work with the latest media such as video, photography and film with a view to future developments in artistic forms of expression. The architecture shows a neutrality and a charming inner courtyard and bright rooms of different sizes characterize the KunstLANDing. In 1991 the NKV was founded and renovated by the association.
Between 1991 and 1998, the time before the association moved into Landingstrasse, exhibitions were linked in the exhibition’s hall “Kunstraum am Rathaus”. In addition, the NKV was dependent on guest appearances in the city's Jesuitenkirche.
The property is now a landmark and has retained various authentic architectural elements, such as the staircase and the wooden floors, which, in addition to the spacious rooms, offer a beautiful ambience. In 1998 the building was named KunstLANDing and from then on it could finally be used for exhibitions. Since then it has been considered a place for numerous guided tours and actions, and it opens up a lively space for encounters with contemporary art.
The NKV was founded in February 1991 with the chairwoman Elisabeth Claus. With around 400 members (as of 2016), the art association is dedicated to contemporary and experimental art, which is organized in form of themed and group exhibitions with regional and international artists. The exhibitions are divided into series, which are grouped into individual levels, in material, country, topic and politics and characterize the NKV as a whole with a variety of art.
The first and at the same time, most successful exhibition of the art association is remarkable, which bears the name "paper = art" and has already been represented nine times. This exhibition began in 1981 and continues the long tradition of paper production in Aschaffenburg until after World War II. The focus of this exhibition is on evaluating paper as something individual in art. Artists who use paper as an independent medium are drawn in to this exhibition.

Cooperation 

The NKV is characterized by establishing international collaborations in order to enrich KunstLANDing with a variety of art forms. These include, for example, the exhibition “Coming of Age” which showed contemporary art from Zimbabwe, Africa, and exhibitions in cooperation with Korea from 2007 and 2010 with the names “Future is Haje” and “Couples, Korea meets Germany”. Limited to Europe, the art association was interested in Finnish (“Close to Nature” – 2010) and even more repetitive, in Italian art. The regional network is defined by local artists and collaborations with universities and schools. In 2018, students presented the exhibition “Rezepte fuer waehrenddessen und danach” with cross-media works in which documentary film, video, photography, up to objects, installation settings and performance were represented. Themes which cover the subject areas of artistic studies. The NKV is also committed to the younger generation and set up the KinderLANDing. For each exhibition, the NKV invites you to a workshop that is arranged for artistic promotion by children aged 5–13 years. The young offspring creatively implement their experience of the current exhibition in various media (painting, paper, wood and metal works). The art association stands with its name as an important carrier of cultural education in the arts.
In addition, the NKV assigns sponsorship awards every two to three years to embed the social commitment that defines the art association. In addition, an art market for Christmas has been organized every year since 1993, from which local artists in particular benefit.

Characteristics about the association

Not only regional networking and social participation are characteristic features of the association, but also the diversity of contemporary and experimental art structures the wide range of offers. Numerous exhibitions can be seen in the KunstLANDing which always focuses on different materials. A variety of media such as photography, film, painting and acoustics convey art in different ways. Spacious installations transcend the two-dimensional picture frame and installations outdoor expand the artistic horizon. Transforming exhibitions that are constantly changing due to external conditions (“LOS DER KYBERNETIK” – 2016) and artistic interventions on the outer facade of the KunstLANDing (“wechselweise” – 2003) characterize the wide range of different art movements of the art association. The NKV also entrusts itself to variable curators who actively contribute to the diversity of the exhibitions.
By enriching the cultural landscape, the art association’s aim is to achieve great things. The high artistic potential offers a platform for diverse presentations of works and artists, shaped by regionality and internationality.
Perseverance, assertiveness and persuasiveness are the motivating qualities of the management who culturally complement the city with the Neuen Kunstverein Aschaffenburg e.V.

Aschaffenburg is an independent city in beautiful Lower Franconia in Bavaria. Along the river Main, with an area of over 62km², the city with its cultural heritage and 71,000 inhabitants invites people from all over the world. The city offers a wide range of attractions, such as the Johannisburg Castle built from red sandstone, the Pompejanum (a replica of a Roman villa), a classicist city theater, the Hofgarten-cabaret, a casino cinema and Schoenbusch Castle.

Michelle Hewett, born September 12, 1995 in Flensburg
Studies: Literary, Cultural and Media Studies
Internship: 2020 at studio Thomas Kellner
Special interests: Movies, Literature, Culture, Travelling
Goals: To live in America one day