Kunsthalle Bern Archive
The archive of Kunsthalle Bern is located in the institution’s historical building at Helvetiaplatz 1. It reflects a century of exhibition-making at the heart of the development of contemporary art and may therefore be considered an important source for the study of twentieth-century exhibition history. The documents it holds help in reconstructing the production of exhibitions that took place at Kunsthalle Bern and show the recurring involvement of numerous key actors in the field – artists, curators, collectors, galleries and so forth – as well as the discourse that shaped and reshaped contemporaneity in art. The archive is open to research and, since 2018, accessible online in an ever-growing digital collection.
Researchers are welcome to visit the archive of the Kunsthalle Bern by appointment. They are asked to use the research tools provided by the archive.
To make an appointment, please contact archiv_at_kunsthalle-bern.ch with a brief description of your research.
The collections
Some 200,000 documents are preserved in the archive. They are divided into seven main collections:
The correspondence collection (KHB_02_01)
documents the day-to-day affairs in the production of exhibitions. It is made up of about 500 files structured chronologically and organised by exhibition. It comprises approximately 100,000 documents (such as letters, notes, invoices) from 1933 to the present. The documentation of the exhibitions before 1933 is not catalogued but can be accessed upon request. Kunsthalle Bern also holds documents on the making of exhibitions during Harald Szeemann’s tenure as director, but a large part of the documents from this period are to be found in The Harald Szeemann Archive, which is kept at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.
The catalogue collection (KHB_02_02)
comprises all catalogues published by Kunsthalle Bern from 1918 to today.
The photo collection (KHB_02_03)
includes visual and material records of the Kunsthalle’s exhibitions. Some 5,000 photographs in various formats are organized chronologically.
The video collection (KHB_02_04)
consists of approximately 50 digitised videos with artistic or documentary content.
The invitation card collection (KHB_02_05)
holds invitation cards of Kunsthalle Bern from 1918 until now.
The press collection (KHB_02_06)
is structured chronologically and assembles newspaper clippings documenting how exhibitions were received and how the history of the institution was reflected in public discourse.
The poster collection is kept in the Graphic Collection of the National Library.
In addition to these main collections, the Kunsthalle Bern also has a library of catalogues and art magazines on its own history and beyond.
During the opening hours of Kunsthalle Bern the archive can be visited by appointment for research purposes. You will also be asked to use the archive-provided research tools.
To book an appointment please e-mail Julia Jost and kindly provide a brief description of your research.
The Kunsthalle Bern archive precautionary measures can be viewed here.
The story of the Kunsthalle Bern is told in three publications:
(From 1918 to 1968)
From Hodler to Antiform
(From 1968 to 1993)
Aus dem Ort des Musée Eclaté
(From 1993 to 2018)
Im Tun. Eine Geschichte der Künstler*innen 2018-1993
