Marijana Schneider to lead Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol

Marijana Schneider will take over as artistic director of the Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol, a contemporary art exhibition house in Innsbruck, on January 4, ORF reported. She will succeed Nina Tabassomi, whose term ends in late 2026.

Schneider will also oversee the institution’s administrative integration into the Tyrolean State Museums, which will begin in January. One of her tasks will be to strengthen the art hall’s profile among the people of Tyrol.

Andreas Rudigier, director of the Tyrolean State Museums, said Schneider was a well-connected curator who knew how to make contemporary art accessible to a broad audience. She would further develop the art hall as a relevant venue for contemporary art, build new international links and strengthen it as an open and accessible place for the public in Tyrol, he said.

Schneider said contemporary art became accessible when people encountered it physically, in a space and with all their senses, rather than relying only on prior knowledge. She said she wanted to open the Taxispalais as a lively house for artistic production where international contemporary art and local people could come together.

The Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol is the state of Tyrol’s exhibition house for international contemporary art. Paul Flora, Wilfried Kirschl, Oswald Oberhuber and Magdalena Hörmann founded it in 1964. It hosted Austria’s first exhibition of Gerhard Richter’s work in 1973 and Iman Issa’s first solo exhibition in Austria in 2020.