MISSIONS
A « forum » for contemporary art
Ideally located in the heart of the capital, the Casino Luxembourg – contemporary art forum, presents exhibitions through an international program, mainly based on a younger generation of artists. The art center houses public spaces with various uses and vocations, combining contemporary art with a warm and friendly meeting place: the ground floor is equipped with a library specialized in contemporary art, a BlackBox projection room devoted to artists' videos, a space dedicated to educational activities and a café-restaurant, the ca(fé)sino. The first floor is exclusively dedicated to temporary exhibitions, where artists' monographs and thematic exhibitions are presented. These are complemented by a varied program of guided tours, lectures, encounters with contemporary music and artists' residencies. Far from being a museum, the Casino acts as a laboratory for artistic experimentation and emerging trends.
Le premier étage étant exclusivement affecté aux expositions temporaires, des monographies d’artistes et expositions thématiques y sont proposées. Celles-ci sont complétées par un programme varié de visites guidées, conférences, rencontres avec la musique contemporaine ainsi que de résidences d’artistes. Loin des préoccupations muséales, le Casino opère tel un laboratoire d’expérimentations artistiques pour les tendances en devenir.
ARCHITECTURE
The building of the current Casino Luxembourg was built in 1882 by Pierre Kemp and Pierre Funk. Formerly known as the "Casino Bourgeois", it was for many years a major venue for the city's cultural and social life. In the middle of the 20th century, the state bought the building and rented it to the Cercle culturel des Communautés Européennes. The Casino Luxembourg, now called the "Foyer Européen", remained the centre of the European Community's cultural and social events in Luxembourg until the end of 1990. During the preparations for Luxembourg European City of Culture 1995, Urs Raussmüller was commissioned to convert the former Casino Bourgeois into an exhibition space. In his architectural project he convincingly combined simplicity, aesthetics and practicality by installing "white cubes" in each of the rooms on the ground and first floors. In March 1996, three months after the end of the cultural year in Luxembourg in 1995, the Casino Luxembourg became what it is today: the first and only Forum for Contemporary Art in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
Following an architectural competition by invitation, the architect Claudine Kaell was entrusted with the mission of the architectural transformation of the ground floor of the Casino in 2016. Her project provided for a more pragmatic and fluid reorganisation of the interior spaces, as well as better accessibility for the public (with an additional entrance on the Boulevard Roosevelt side). The ground floor is now equipped with, next to the existing library, a completely redesigned reception area; projection rooms dedicated to artists' videos (the BlackBox) and to the video documentation of the exhibitions presented at Casino Luxembourg (ChannelBox); a space dedicated to educational activities and creative workshops, and a café-restaurant, which has come to reinforce the identity of the place and to focus on conviviality.
ARCHITECTS
The Casino was built in 1882 by the Luxembourg architects Pierre Kemp and Pierre Funck. Pierre Funck, who studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, had contributed to some remarkable buildings, the Episcopal Convict and the Pescatore Foundation, and to other private homes. Pierre Kemp, on the other hand, acquired his knowledge of architecture during his studies in Düsseldorf and Munich, and his experience was mainly focused on the construction of churches and private houses. The architect Urs Raussmüller was given the task of converting the "Casino Bourgeois" into an exhibition space in 1995 and integrated the "white cubes" into it without touching the historical substance of the building. In 2016, the proposal by architect Claudine Kaell was convincing due to the correctness of the architectural concept and a perfect match with the visions of the Casino team for the transformation of the ground floor, including a second entrance on the Roosevelt Boulevard side.