In the location's words:

From the very beginning, the GAK's declared aim was to exhibit contemporary art. What was understood by this changed. In the still young history of the Kunstverein, only a few striking aspects should be mentioned: the initially strong orientation towards the Bremen scene, the exhibition "Roxy's" by Edward Kienholz, which is now to a certain extent a cornerstone of the collection in the Neues Museum Weserburg, the sound installations that determined the program as an important focus in the eighties, then in the nineties the slow but clear transition from more formal-media, space-related exhibitions of installation, photography, painting to a reflection of the increased artistic examination of autobiography, identity, culture and politics. The following twenty years were characterized by an increasing focus on art in public space, internationalization, institutional professionalization and increased collaboration with universities and art academies. At the same time, its prominent location on the Weser Island - in the same building complex as the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art with the Center for Artists' Publications - became the subject of an important cultural-political debate about the location of the "Teerhof" site.