You can be an exhibitor at art karlsruhe
Strong selling, service oriented and with an excellent cost-benefit ratio, art karlsruhe takes place in the state of Baden-Württemberg, which is the region of Germany with the strongest purchasing power and which is home to Germany’s densest concentration of art collectors.
Personal sharing as equals among collectors, gallery owners and artists is a lived tradition in karlsruhe.
You too can be a part of the success story of this art fair. Take advantage of our comprehensive service. Seize this unique opportunity to meet your target audience and get to know new contacts and purchasers.
What does art karlsruhe stand for?
For over 20 years, art karlsruhe has been a permanent fixture on the German art market. In the centre of one of Europe's strongest economic regions - in the heart of Baden-Württemberg, close to France, Switzerland and Austria - it presents:
Our aim is to make art tangible - for newcomers and connoisseurs alike. With works spanning 120 years of art history, we combine established art with exciting new discoveries.
We look forward to welcoming you to the next edition of art karlsruhe at one of the most beautiful exhibition centres in Europe. Together with Karlsruhe's art scene, the UNESCO City of Media Arts, we make the fair a highlight every year.
At the centre: quality, service and personal encounters - for visitors, artists and galleries. Apply now with your programme!
Gallery Stand
Apply for a gallery stand at art karlsruhe
Circa 180 galleries annually receive permission to exhibit at the International Fair for Classic Modern and Contemporary Art.
Participants are chosen by a nine-member advisory board chaired by Kristian Jarmuschek and the CEO of Messe Karlsruhe Britta Wirtz consisting of experts in each of the individual focal points.
Application deadline for art karlsruhe 2026: September, 19th 2025
We would be happy to send you the current application form and further information on this years's application process.
Participation requirements
Would you like to be one of the exhibitors in art karlsruhe’s gallery programme? Here you can check to see if you satisfy the preconditions for participation:
- The application procedure is open for galleries in Germany and abroad which work professionally and
- regularly (i.e. at least four exhibitions per year)
- organize exhibits in their own gallery premises.
- Permission to participate in art karlsruhe is generally not granted to art mediators who do not operate their own galleries or to self-marketers.
All formats at a glance
The three-year programme sponsored by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), and implemented by the Association of German Galleries and Art Dealers (BVDG)and art karlsruhe to honour artistic positions which, despite their artistic quality and continuous professional creation of original works of art, have not been able to achieve continuous and supra-regional or international visibility, recognition and collectorship, is entering its second round.
The most important changes are
- Artists who are already deceased and estates cannot be nominated.
- The artist may not have previously participated in the re:discover @ art karlsruhe funding programme.
All admitted participants of the Standard section can apply for a 25 square metre, free of charge promotion booth within their stand with the proposal of an artistic position that is worth rediscovering
Detailed information on the re:discover funding programme can be found here.
In response to the feedback from last year's application process for re:discover, we are offering re:frame, a new format for the presentation of artists' estates.
Similar to the one:artist show format, an area of 25 m² within the stand can be booked at a reduced stand rental price for the presentation of an estate that is demonstrably managed by the gallery.
The programme will be accompanied editorially and in the talk programme at the fair.
Sculpture spaces are 100 sqm of free space between the gallery stands in the halls for large-format statements, installation works and three-dimensional art. They are the unique selling point of art karlsruhe and offer the opportunity to present works that exceed the dimensions of a gallery bunk.
The most convincing presentation will receive the Loth Sculpture Prize sponsored by the L-Bank and endowed with 20,000 €.
- Each participating gallery can apply to host a sculpture space. The number of sculpture spaces at the fair is limited.
- A sculpture space is a flat rate of 10 x 10 m, the gallery stand is placed in the direct vicinity of the sculpture space.
- The stand rental price for the sculpture spot includes the option to place a sculpture by the registered artist in the Fair's Sculpture Garden (outdoor atrium area) at no additional charge.
Sculpture spots
These are spaces for individual sculptures in the aisles between the halls (can only be booked in conjunction with a gallery stand).
Newly designed as small open spaces with lighting via a floating truss system. No stand construction. The sculptures can be experienced in space and at 360°.
Further information on the SKULPTUR theme at art karlsruhe can be found here.
The paper:square is a special display area for the presentation of artistic positions dealing with the medium of paper.
Exhibitors at art karlsruhe have the opportunity to book additional running metres here. The exhibition space is curated by the fair organisers. Sales generated from the special sales area will be handled by the gallerist.
The paper:square gallery format will not be continued in 2025.
You can find further information here.
Promotion of young galleries with a founding date from 2020 or younger and with less than 3 participations at art karlsruhe.
new:comer receive a special reduced stand rental price and have the opportunity to book stands with a minimum size of 25 sqm (instead of 50 sqm).
Further information can be found here.
The Friends Programme offers the opportunity to present a friendly gallery as a co-exhibitor at their own stand. The "Friend" has the opportunity to show a cooperative presentation or curated themed exhibitions and gets to know art karlsruhe.
- The basic prerequisite is the booking of a total of at least 75 sqm of stand space.
- The special Friends price is limited to a maximum of 25 sqm within this stand area.
- Only 1 Friend can be registered.
- The co-exhibitor must be presented to Messe Karlsruhe / the Advisory Board in the application procedure and must meet the admission requirements.
- The participation of the co-exhibitor as a Friend is limited to a maximum of 3 editions of art karlsruhe.
For questions please contact
The Museum Mile for exhibitors
art karlsruhe’s Museum Mile offers cultural institutions (such as museums, art associations and foundations, as well as culture tourism) a platform for sharing and utilizing the synergies of an international art fair as exhibitor.
Embedded in Hall 3 , the Museum Mile presents itself at art karlsruhe with attractive information stands. More than 40 selected institutions in Karlsruhe’s cultural landscape find their interested target audience here, as do cultural institutions from the entire federal state and neighbouring regions. International exhibitors come, for example, from France and Switzerland.
You will find your interested target audience here as an exhibitor!
You want to exhibit?
In order to make the presentation as comfortable as possible for you as exhibitor, the information stands of the Museum Mile already contain a stand construction and marketing package in addition to the stand area. Possible stand sizes vary from 9 to 24 square meters.
The presentation and sale of originals / editions / graphics is not permitted in the area of the Museum Mile. It is a pure advertising platform for the institution and its exhibitions, but not for individual artists. This is reserved for the galleries at the fair. The organizer decides on the admission to participate in agreement with the curator.
The application process
Please use our online platform to apply for admission to art karlsruhe.
You will be informed in writing once a decision has been made regarding your participation. The exhibition contract is concluded upon receipt of the official stand confirmation or written notification of admission.
The deadline for registration for the museum mile is October 2nd, 2025
Contact
Warning for exhibitors!
Attendee lists of art karlsruhe
We have noticed a growing number of fraudulent emails and websites masquerading as art karlsruhe and offering attendee lists. We would like to inform our exhibitors that our visitor data are not sold or rented.
Expo Guide entries
International Fairs Directory, EXPO GUIDE, Commercial Online Manuals S de RL de CV
We would like to draw your attention to untrustworthy exhibitor directory offers:
A Mexican company called "EXPO GUIDE, S.C." has contacted several exhibitors of Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre and asked them to update their entries on Expo Guide, a database for trade fairs and exhibitors. This company as well as a company called International Fairs Directory are currently aggressively expanding their presences on the German market. We would like to emphasise once again that none of the aforementioned companies has any cooperation whatsoever with the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre. The entries on the Expo Guide site (www.expo-guide.com) and the International Fairs Directory (https://www.inter-fairs.com) are not related to any of our trade fairs.
Unsuspecting exhibitors are contracted to a three-year, non-retractable agreement, which could cost you a 1.171 € per year, with no foreseeable benefits.
If you receive any those letters, throw them away. If you mistakenly signed a contract, please follow the advice of the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry.
Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress GmbH expressly distances itself from the services offered by any of those companies as Commercial Online Manuals S de RL de CV and International Fairs Directory!
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Sample letter
If you have ordered a chargeable entry from EXPO GUIDE, we provide you here with a letter for download which AUMA has checked with a lawyer and with which you can defend yourself against the payment of an invoice.
We also provide you with a sample letter from EXPO GUIDE for download.