Lower Austria State Gallery
Marte.Marte Architects
Krems, Austria
Photography: Marc Lins
It takes a lot for a structure of this kind to come into being. The manifestation of the new State Gallery of Lower Austria in Krems-Stein on the Danube is based on the bold vision of architects, a determined political will, paired with the orchestrated collaboration of museum experts, craftsmen, and companies, spiced with a touch of upheaval. Krems – a concentrated atmosphere on the wide river of the Danube, surrounded by gentle vineyards, structured by narrow alleys and well-formed squares, nurtured by the acoustic space of the Minorite Church and the museums of the Art Mile, resonating with the ethnographic music festival Glatt & Verkehrt, the cacophony of tourist voices, and the avant-garde Danube Festival, tastefully shifting between dry Federspiel wine and juicy apricot.
Opposite the strict Kunsthalle planned by Adolf Krischanitz in the former tobacco factory of the Tabakregie and next to the mimetic Caricature Museum by Gustav Peichl with its playful sawtooth roof, the solitary State Gallery sets an unmistakable mark for art and forms a striking alliance with the place. The structure, more sculpture than building, eludes estimation when moving around it, changing its expression and shape with every step, not intending to be to scale, but embodying pure tension of forces.
