The Art Pledge
Portrait of Franz Erhard Walther

Franz Erhard Walther

Born in
1939
From
Fulda, Germany
Lives and works
Fulda, Germany
Represented by
Galerie Jocelyn Wolff

UN goals

Your own body becomes a material, like space and time.

Biography

Since 1963, Franz Erhard Walther has consistently championed the concept of sculpture as performance and participation, the notion that art is a collaborative event in which artist and public contribute on an equal footing. For Walther the “meaning” of a work has always been primarily what results from this collaboration, not something to be discovered through detached and solitary contemplation. His uncomplicated, straightforward objects and installations address their viewers with partly tactile, partly intellectual stimuli; they trigger the temptation to act, the desire to experience things in a physical way, and question their viewers’ positions in space and in relation to each other.

Career highlights

Solo shows

Group shows

Collections

  • Zurich, Switzerland: Kunsthaus
  • Paris, France: Centre Georges Pompidou
  • New York City, USA: Museum of Modern Art
  • Hamburg, Germany: Hamburger Kunsthalle
  • Chicago, USA: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Media

Selected artworks