Zehn Räume, drei Loggien und ein Saal

With the opening of the exhibition the Sprengel Museum Hannover celebrates the inauguration of its new extension.

The Swiss architects Meili and Peter have designed an elegant building in anthracite grey concrete with a total floor area of 5,300m², of which 1,400 m² are designated for exhibition purposes, thus opening up completely new possibilities for the museum’s future activities. The room programme comprises ten generously, albeit differently dimensioned rooms with natural lighting from above as well as three “loggias” overlooking Hannover’s Maschsee. In addition there is a large connecting hall featuring a spectacular staircase that cannot fail to invoke in the viewer an unforgettable sense of space.

The Sprengel Museum is celebrating the opening of its new extension with a project whose title names the room programme and focuses attention on the ten new spaces while placing new artistic accents at the same time: Ten Rooms, Three Loggias and a Hall. Artists have been invited to enter into a dialogue with the architecture of each of the new spaces with an installation or intervention that makes the specific qualities of space, material, light and perception tangible. Ceal Floyer interprets the stairs theme as an acoustic spatial experience; Bettina Pousttchi demonstrates dimensions by placing a skyscraper architecture printed on textile in the space; Yoshihiro Suda transforms the exhibition space into an equally minimalistic and poetic biotope with highly artificial carved plants that seemingly sprout from the wall and floor while Neil Beloufa’s video installation presents a disconcerting sociotope. Ann Veronica Janssens reflects spatial conditions in glass cubes filled with different transparent fluids and Alice Musiol allows the spatial volume to be experienced by means of a textile waterfall that pours into the space. Maria Loboda presents seating furniture in the loggias. Architecture and art, space and work are shown as equals in a poetic balance that lends a maximum impact to both art and space.

The true opening of the new Sprengel Museum will take place in May 2016 under the heading “130% Sprengel” with a large-scale new presentation of the collection in all the exhibition spaces encompassing a total of nearly 7,000m².