DIRECTOR
Kathrin Weishaupt-Theopold
The kunsthalle weishaupt is directed by art historian Kathrin Weishaupt-Theopold, the daughter of the collectors.
Kathrin Weishaupt-Theopold curates our exhibitions, most of which are based on the Collection. With a new selection every six months, the main focuses of the Collection are presented in group exhibitions. We also present simultaneous solo shows, working closely together with artists whose work is significantly represented in the Collection. Since the kunsthalle opened in 2007, highlights have included solo exhibitions of works by Keith Haring (2009) and Robert Longo (2010), and a group exhibition on trends in the USA since 1960 entitled American Idols (2013).
We work closely together with the Museum Ulm, with which the kunsthalle is also physically connected via a visitors’ walkway, and regularly present joint projects, including ZERO Lives (2008), Erich Hauser (2010), the Ulm Triennale (2015) and Why art?.
THE HISTORY OF THE KUNSTHALLE WEISHAUPT
Ulm’s New Centre
In the 1990s this was still the site of a four-lane highway, but now Hans-und-Sophie-Scholl-Platz is at the heart of the city of Ulm’s new centre, flanked by the historical town hall and three highly modern buildings. The western side of the square is defined by the Sparkasse bank, a building made of exposed concrete and glass designed by Stephan Braunfels and completed in 2006, and an adjacent but slightly set-back office building facing Münsterplatz. Opposite these two buildings, stands the kunsthalle weishaupt, which was completed a year later and marked the culmination of this urban redesign project. Using natural stone that refers to the city’s cathedral and generous glass facades that make for lightness, this construction melds harmoniously with its surroundings. The city had approached Siegfried Weishaupt, art collector from neighbouring Laupheim, to suggest that he present his collection to the public in the heart of UIm. This idea was more than welcome, as Weishaupt had himself long been wishing for precisely this. On the basis of a hereditary lease agreement, the collector then built the kunsthalle on city land at his own expense and on the basis of his own commissioned design. After a period of sixty-six years both land and building will return to city ownership.
Balance of Force and Grace
The elegant kunsthalle weishaupt building is certainly highly present in the centre of the city of Ulm, but its design is nonetheless entirely focused on its aesthetic mission – to present art inside the building in the most effective way. This building is custom made for art alone. This mission has been impressively realised by Munich architect Wolfram Wöhr, a former employee of world-famous architect Richard Meier. The sixteen-metre high front façade facing Hans-und-Sophie-Scholl-Platz looks like an enormous passe-partout for the works of art displayed within it. The foyer entirely surrounded by glass adds further dimensions, with a generous sense of space and unhindered views into the city’s streets. The simple and yet forceful cubes of the building are raised above the transparent ground floor and seem to be suspended in space.
