Galerie KiR | Kunstinitiative Ruhr

In the location's words:

From 2001 to 2011, a group of artists from Oberhausen and neighboring towns ran the "Galerie KiR" on the Altmarkt.

10 years of Galerie KiR, that is an impressive history of interesting exhibitions in monthly rotation, i.e. a total of around 130 exhibitions. In addition to their own works, the KiR artists presented numerous representatives of contemporary regional and national art, e.g. Erwin Kowski, Wahed Kahkdan, Walter Kurowski, Peter Smolka, Klaus Staeck, Georg Weber...

Other highlights were the art and artist exchange programs:

Artists from Gdansk (Poland), Paris (France), AAB University Pristina (Kosovo), Düsseldorf (BBK) and Secession Nordwest (Wilhelmshaven) presented their works in the gallery. In return, the KIR artists exhibited their works in the cities of their art friends.

Over the 10 years, there have been numerous other artistic activities in the gallery rooms: painting courses with children and young people, readings, lectures and discussions about art, performance, theater, dance...

In September 2011, the gallery celebrated its tenth anniversary with art, music and numerous guests. A few months later, the artists had to give up their gallery for financial reasons and dissolved the association.

However, the artists remained active. Under the name "OBtisch", they met as an artists' get-together and presented current regional art in the Gdanska cultural restaurant. 14 exhibitions were organized from 2012 onwards and the "Gdanska" restaurant became the "home" of numerous artists. Nevertheless, there was a growing desire among them to have their own art-specific space and to revive the KiR Gallery.

So on December 10, 2013, 14 artists from Oberhausen and the surrounding area met to found a new association, the "Kunstinitiative Ruhr e.V.". In January 2014, the new Kunstinitiative Ruhr e.V. was entered in the register of associations and set about looking for suitable exhibition spaces.

These were found in the Europahaus at Elsässer Straße 21. With a grant from the district funding (federal and state program "Soziale Stadt NRW") and months of work by the members themselves, supported by friends, they designed their new gallery.

On August 29, 2014, the new KiR Gallery was opened in the Europahaus in the center of Oberhausen, at Elsässerstr. 21. The vernissage gave an insight into the diversity of the artistic temperaments of the 12 founding members.

Since then, interesting exhibitions by regional and national artists have been presented every two months. Exhibitions continue to be held in the Kultur-Restaurant Gdanska.

Aims of the Kunstinitiative Ruhr e.V.:

- To give artists from the region and beyond the opportunity to exhibit their work in appropriate spaces.

- to create a meeting place for artists and citizens interested in art

- to contribute to improving the attractiveness of the city center through the gallery and its activities