Kunsthaus Graz

The Kunsthaus opened in 2003, the year Graz held the European Capital of Culture, and it was designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier as a bulging blue form pushed up against an iron-fronted building of the 1840s. Locals call it the friendly alien. Nozzles on the roof point north and drop daylight into the upper hall. The east face carries BIX, a grid of fluorescent rings behind the skin that can run low-resolution animation at night. There is no collection here: two column-free halls take temporary exhibitions of contemporary art, photography and architecture, rebuilt several times a year, and the Needle is a glazed walkway looking over the river to the old roofs.

What you actually see

• The blue skin - curved acrylic panels over a steel frame, with no visible joints from the street.
• BIX - the fluorescent grid behind the east wall that animates after dark.
• The Needle - the glazed viewing gallery over the Mur towards the old town.
• Space01 and Space02 - the two column-free halls, stripped and rebuilt for each exhibition.

When to go

Open all year apart from Mondays, and worth checking what is installed first, because with no permanent collection the whole visit depends on the current show. Changeover gaps between exhibitions close parts of the building. Come back after dark for the facade animation, which runs in the evening rather than all night.

Honest expectations

Everything hangs on the temporary programme, and some shows fill one hall and leave the other empty for the same ticket. The interior is a dim grey space, deliberately so, which disappoints people who came for the outside. The view from the Needle is short and often busy. The blue skin has aged and looks duller than the photographs.

Nearby

The Mur island, the Schlossberg and the Graz old town are a short walk over the river.