The double exhibition begins with an introductory chronological section, the HALLENKUNST Timeline. This part of the show takes you on a journey to the early 1970s, a time when the first teenagers in New York City, driven by a variety of social reasons and cultural motivations, began tagging the walls and subways of the Big Apple with their initials and names. This quickly evolved into an unstoppable movement.

This part of the exhibition traces a period and an aesthetic development that would profoundly influence subsequent generations of artists. In the 1980s and 1990s, the spark ignited in England, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, unleashing creativity and energy in thousands of young people. The timeline tells on an aesthetic level how graffiti, especially on trains, has developed and in part reinvented itself over 55 years. The exhibition is supported by artists, photographers, partners and projects that have played an important role within the storytelling of the show.​​​​​ The Timeline Exhibition culminates in 2025 with the growing influence of the digital world, then transitions into the main HALLENKUNST Group Exhibition, showcasing what has become of the protagonists of this massive movement.

​

ARTISTS

​

KEITH BAUGH (Gloucestershire, UK)

STEVEN 'BLADE' OGBURN (New York, USA)

​FUTURA2000 (New York, US)

DONDI WHITE (New York, US)

SEEN (New York, US)

MANFRED KIRCHHEIMER (New York, USA)

MARTHA COOPER (New York, USA)​

HENRY CHALFANT (New York, USA)

BANDO (Paris, F)

CRIME TIME KINGS (Amsterdam, NL)

SHARK (Dortmund, GER)

JEPSY (Mainz, GER)

CAF CREW (Berlin, GER)​

SIGI 'DARE' VON KOEDING (Basel, CH)

LOOMIT (Munich, GER)

FURIOUS TRIPL (Amsterdam, NL)

HATI.HATI.MAS (Hamburg, GER)

DAIM (Hamburg, GER)

TORCH (Heidelberg, GER)​

ALEX FAKSO (Milan, ITA)

NILS MUELLER (Cologne, GER)​

CONTRIBUTORS

​

LE GRAND JEU (Paris, F)

CHARLIE AHEARN (New York, USA)

FAB5FREDDY (New York, USA)

DAVID GILBERT (New York, USA)

GALLERY YAKI KORNBLIT REVISITED (Amsterdam, NL)

GRAFFITI GOES EAST (Berlin, Warsaw, GER/PL)

BRAIN DAMAGE PROJECTS (Warsaw, PL)

​DUTCH GRAFFITI LIBRARY (Amsterdam, NL)

URBAN DISCIPLINE (Hamburg, GER)

COLLECTION RIK REINKING (Hamburg, GER)

CITY OF NAMES (Berlin, GER)

STREETFILES.ORG (Berlin, GER)

DRM CREW (Berlin, GER)

​​​VIRAL VANDALS REVISITED (Amsterdam, NL)

PLANET DANCE (Chemnitz, GER)

NSK CREW (Chemnitz, GER)

DIE ZUEGE GEHOEREN UNS (Munich, GER)

SUBWAY ART REPAINTED (Amsterdam, NL)

MILK (Hamburg, GER)

CHRISTIAN BARTELS (Hamburg, GER)

FLORIAN KRAUSE (Frankfurt, GER)

ON FILM

​

STATIONS OF THE ELEVATED (New York, USA)

WILD STYLE (New York, USA)

STYLE WARS (New York, USA)

BEAT STREET (New York, USA)

ART INCONSEQUENCE (Dortmund, GER)

DIRTY HANDZ (Paris, F),

RISE OF GRAFFITI WRITING (Chemnitz, GER)

CURATORS

​

RENÈ KAESTNER (Chemnitz/Berlin, GER)

R.M.SCHMIDT (Hamburg, GER)

CEZARY HUNKIEWICZ (Warsaw, PL)

CHRISTIAN OMODEO (Paris, F)

AILEEN MIDDEL (Amsterdam, NL)

JASPER VAN ES (Eindhoven, NL)

The Timeline Exhibition transitions into the main HALLENKUNST Group Exhibition, showcasing what has become of the protagonists of this massive movement. Influencing and mixing a wide variety of creative forms of expression such as pop art, painting, photography, illustration, design, music or art in public space, the graffiti movement and its protagonists have been among the important cultural changes of the 21st century for more than 40 years is now going to be an integral part of new contemporary art. 

In this part of HALLENKUNST, you won't experience traditional graffiti. Instead, you'll encounter artistic positions that have evolved from the subculture into other genres. The exhibited works, spanning painting, writing, media art, photography, abstract art, and sculptural art, sometimes engage with related or cultural contexts from the public space. They also interact with Chemnitz as the European Capital of Culture 2025 and the host city for HALLENKUNST.

Just over half of the artworks on display were created during our Artists-in-Residency Program and extended stays in Chemnitz, while the rest were produced in the artists' own studios. Some pieces bridge the cultural-historical background of the Timeline Exhibition and contemporary art. With others, the influence from earlier years is almost indistinguishable, allowing them to seamlessly integrate into their respective genres. This highlights the essential criterion ofHALLENKUNST's curatorial idea: ART IN TRANSIT & BEYOND.

Over the past 55 years, graffiti has seen several unsuccessful attempts at "musealization." It's only when artists grasp that their time on the street and in depots can provide valuable influences and impulses—which must then be translated into artistic consciousness—that exciting new perspectives emerge.

​​

HALLENKUNST documents this development with a comprehensive art and cultural-historical review with more than 50 artists and collectives from Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark and the United States. 

​