Protagonist of the Contemporary in Art
In memoriam Kasper König
On 9 August 2024, Kasper König passed away at the age of 80. The former director of Museum Ludwig in Cologne and co-founder and curator of Skulptur Projekte in Münster maintained a lifelong and busy career as an independent curator. WIELS director Dirk Snauwaert has written an obituary for the self-styled Ausstellungsmacher (‘exhibition-maker’).
In his lifetime, König went not by Rudolf, his given name, but Kasper, after the popular character from German puppet theatre. This name, the late artist used to say, helped him avoid being drafted into the army in the ’60s. It is just one of the avalanche of anecdotes he used to tell a receptive audience, along with a large repertoire of jokes. Everyone who met Kasper remembers his appearance with his imposing figure and distinctive countenance, with his famous address book under his arm tha (…)
