Jörn Bötnagel and Yvonne Quirmbach began working together in 1995, initially without a dedicated gallery space. They organised shows in temporary venues in Cologne, working with artists with whom they established a personal connection. In October 1998 they decided to set up BQ, their own exhibition space — the name taken from their initials — in a small space in South Cologne. The exhibition space was run on a limited budget, with its activities funded by dayjobs.
In April 2002, BQ moved to a space in the city centre of Cologne. The new premises provided space not just for exhibiting art but also for an office and a storage, the space needed to run BQ on a commercial basis. In January 2004 they showed works from 1963-74 by Ferdinand Kriwet. This show was part of an ongoing exhibition series with an art-historical background from the 60’s and the 70’s. Other shows had been organized earlier with Peter Roehr (2001) and Reinhard Voigt (2003). These exhibitions are closing the gap between the work of their younger artists and the lively past of the Rhineland, where BQ was based at the time.
In April 2009 the gallery moved from Cologne to Berlin. Here BQ separated the administration (Büro BQ) from the shows (BQ), which took place in temporary exhibition spaces, rented from show to show in different parts of Berlin. Since March 2011 the gallery is based in a permanent space in Berlin-Mitte next to the Volksbühne theatre on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.