Merano arte in the Sparkasse building is a non-profit art association, located in a listed building with a loggia which belongs to Südtiroler Sparkasse AG.

The building was refurbished and transformed into a gallery of contemporary art in 2000/2001 by the Merano architects Höller & Klotzner.

Merano arte has 500 m² of exhibition space, a studio apartment on the fourth floor, a cafeteria and a gallery shop on the ground floor, as well as an event hall that seats roughly 70 persons.

Objective

Merano arte is an international hub of contemporary forms of expression and is intended as a platform for fine arts, photography, architecture, new music, literature, new media, and communication technology.

The high quality events shall make art accessible to a broad public and promote local artists in an international context. Another objective is cross-border cooperation with similar institutions at home and abroad. We also consider it our responsibility to make young people aware of art.

Founding history

With these objectives in mind, 14 art enthusiasts founded the association artForum Gallery - Forum Zeitgenössische Kunst Meran in 1996. artGallery Raffl by Herta Wolf Torggler in the years 1992 - 1995 was decisive for the objectives and concept of the new institution at the ‘Pfarrplatz’ square.

Prompted by the broad program and large public response, the association management started looking for a new location in 1998. The loggia building belonging to Südtiroler Sparkasse was ideal for cultural purposes, so the bank eventually restructured it and rented it to the association.

Today, Merano arte in the Sparkasse building has 51 members.

After the restructuring phase, Merano arte was opened on October 26, 2001 with the first exhibition: Art and Cure – Aesthetics of Recuperation (curators: Prof. Dieter Ronte, Carl Aigner, Andrea Domesle)

Already in its first years, Merano arte managed to establish a dense network of young artists, recognized curators, institutions, and critics.

Moreover, "across" was founded, a loose connection of contemporary institutions in Trentino, South Tyrol, and the State of Tyrol. Since December 2004, Merano arte has also been a member of the national institutions and museums of contemporary art in Italy "AMACI" www.amaci.org.

 

 

List of exhibitions

2001            Art and Cure – Aesthetics of Recuperation (catalogue)

2002            Ernst Jandl – A Comma Period

2002            State of Flux - Delugan_Meissl Architects, Vienna

2002            DNArt – Gen. Ethics & Visions (catalogue)

2002            Beautiful View – The View of the Mountains, from Segantini to Weinberger (catalogue)

 

2003            Luigi Bartolini – A Retrospective (catalogue)

2003            The Literary Idea – On the Creation of Texts

2003            Oswald Oberhuber – Permanant Change (catalogue)

2003            meta.fisica: Art and Philosophy, from de Chirico to Conceptual Art (catalogue)

 

2004            .scapes: Photo Exhibition "The Changing of the Alpine Landscape"

2004            brilliant(s) – Jewelry Art (catalogue)

2004            Base Camp  2004    Young Contemporary Artists

2004            The World of Robert Mapplethorpe (catalogue)

2004            Merano arte Biennial - +POSITIVE (catalogue)

 

2005            Donald Baechler - The Enemies of the Rose (catalogue)

2005            Gion Caminada - Cul zuffel e l’aura dado

2005            MAN RAY magic

2005            Stretch Sculpture (catalogue)

 

2006            New Architecture in South Tyrol 2000–2006 (catalogue)

2006            Base Camp 2 2006

2006            Frida Kahlo & Nickolas Muray – I Will Never Forget You!

2006            Sound Zero – Music and Art, from Pop to Street Art

 

2007            Becoming Landmarks (catalogue)

2007            Children’s Corner (catalogue)

2007            Boris Mikhailov

2007            From Russia with Love (catalogue)

2007            FROM & TO (catalogue)

 

2008            Dietrich_Untertrifaller Architects

2008            Vote for Women (catalogue)

2008            Maik and Dirk Löbbert – insideoutside (catalogue)

2008            The Eye of Meret Oppenheim (catalogue)

 

2009            Contemporary Architecture in Finland

2009            Ulrich Egger – Housing (catalogue)

2009            Eduard Habicher - Drawing Space (catalogue)

2009            PLAY STATION (catalogue)

2009            Urs Lüthi - Art is the Better Life (catalogue)

2010            Peter Fellin (catalogue)

2010            Living in the Alps (catalogue)

2010            FROM & T(W)O (catalogue)

           

2011            Tony Cragg in 4D (catalogue)

2011            Hugo Valazza – Color. Form. Nature (catalogue)

2011            Eliott Erwitt - Icons

2011            The Abandoned Barn

 

2012            New Architecture in South Tyrol 2006–2012 (catalogue)

2012           Denis Oppenheim - Electric City (catalogue)

2012           Three Viewpoints Held in South Tyrol: Annemarie Laner, Martin Pohl, Jörg Hofer

2012           Perspectives of the Future Merano 1945-65 (catalogue)


2013

Cindy Sherman: That's me - That's not me

Arnold Mario Dall'O - Still.life

Sissa Micheli - Fade in the past! Cut!

Elisabeth Oberrauch. Cabinet of Natural Curiosities

Murano><Merano, Glass and Contemporary Art

Desiring the real, Austria contemporary