Kasper König (born 1943) is a German museum director and curator.

Career

König was born in

Mettingen Mettingen is a municipality in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Mettingen is situated approximately 25 km east of Rheine and 20 km west of Osnabrück. Neighbouring places Neighbour villages of ...

. In 1965 he traveled to New York as a courier on behalf of the Robert Fraser Gallery, where he lived intermittently until 1978. From 1973 to 1975, König taught as an associate professor at the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The univ ...

in Halifax, Canada. He became a professor at the

Düsseldorf Art Academy Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in 1985.

Portikus Portikus is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Frankfurt am Main, that was founded in 1987 by Kasper König. The museum is part of the Museumsufer. Portikus presents the work of internationally renowned artists, and exhibits younger, emer ...

, an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Frankfurt am Main, was founded in 1987 by König. From 1988 to 2000, König taught as a professor at the

Städelschule The Städelschule (), Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, is a tertiary school of art in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It accepts about 20 students each year from 500 applicants, and has a total of approximately 150 students of visual a ...

in Frankfurt am Main, which he headed as rector from 1989. From 2000 to 2012, he was director of the

Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lich ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Exhibitions

* In 1966 König curated his first exhibition at the

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...

in Stockholm: "

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

". * 1969 Curator:

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

, Stockholm * In 1977 he was the founding director of

Skulptur Projekte Münster Skulptur Projekte Münster (English: Sculpture Projects Münster) is an exhibition of sculptures in public places in the town of Münster (Germany). Held every ten years since 1977, the exhibition shows works of invited international artists for ...

, which then took place regularly in a cycle of ten years. * Westkunst, Cologne 1981 * Curator Von hier aus – Zwei Monate neue deutsche Kunst in Düsseldorf in 1984. * Chief curator of

Manifesta Manifesta, also known as the European Nomadic Biennial, is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale. History Manifesta was founded in 1994 by Dutch art historian Hedwig Fijen. The first edition took place in Rotterdam. One of ...

10, which was hosted in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 2014.

Awards

Honorary doctorates

* 2005

in Halifax

Controversy

In December 2018, König was accused by artist Cana Bilir-Meier of making racist statements about German Turks at a panel event at the Munich Kammerspiele theatre. These accusations have subsequently been criticised and rebuffed.

Personal life

He was married to the actress Edda Köchl-König (1942–2015). Their son Johann König is a Berlin-based art dealer.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:König, Kasper 1943 births German curators German art historians Living people German art curators