“From the 1960s onwards, the Neue Galerie has characterised the development of art at both a national and international level, presenting Trigon and other major special exhibitions, often in collaboration with the steirischer herbst festival. Theme exhibitions such as “Kontext Kunst” (1993), “Pittura Immedia” (1995), “Phantom der Lust” (2003) and “Un/Fairtrade” (2007) have become part of art history. Many now world-famous artists were first exhibited at the Neue Galerie Graz, embarking on their international career from here: among them Erwin Wurm, Herbert Brandl, Pipilotti Rist, Sylvie Fleury and Olafur Eliasson. Neue Galerie exhibitions have brought legendary and famous personalities from the world of philosophy and art to Graz, from Jean Baudrillard to Slavoj Zizek, from Helmut Newton to Frank Stella and Robert Wilson. In 2008 the Neue Galerie also succeeded in founding BRUSEUM, a centre of excellence and studies for one of the most famous internationally relevant artists, Günter Brus.
In recent years, the Palais Herberstein location has proven to be increasingly unsuitable for the requirement profile of a contemporary museum operation. By moving to the Joanneum district, situated near the provincial library, the multimedia and the natural science collections, the hope is that the Neue Galerie will achieve the standards in terms of infrastructure, personnel and technology that it needs in order to be able to hold its ground as a successful museum in the face of growing national and international competition. Its location in the “Joanneum main building” Neue Galerie will also make it a highlight of the Joanneum."
The Neue Galerie will be re-opened, after the completion of construction work for the Joanneumsviertel [Joanneum district], in November 2011 in the museum building on Neutorgasse 45.
