Dr. Renate Wiehager
Born 1959 in Bremen, Germany
Studied art history, theology, literature and philosophy 1988
Doctorate with a monograph on the German surrealist Richard Oelze (1900-1980) 1988-1991
Curator for contemporary international art at the Stadtgalerie Kiel
1991-2000 Director of the Museum Villa Merkel, Esslingen Since January
2001 Director of the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection, Stuttgart/Berlin and the exhibition space Mercedes-Benz Contemporary, Berlin 2003/2004
Taught the course “Contemporary Art and Corporate Culture” at the Institute for Art History at the University of Stuttgart
Main research areas and exhibitions since 1991:
Exhibition series “International Photo Triennial Esslingen” 1992-2001; “Zero International” 1992-1999, exhibition series with four thematic exhibitions on the European Zero movement around 1960; numerous thematic exhibitions on contemporary art since 1990, including the exhibition series “Minimalism and After” since 2001 // “Private/Corporate. Dialog of the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection with international private collections” since 2002 // “Classical: Modern / Mercedes-Benz Art Collection”, since 2006 // “Minimal_Conceptual and Applied”, since 2007. Curator of a world tour with 150 works from the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection in Europe, USA, South Africa, Japan, South America, since 2003.
Since 2001 curator of the Mercedes-Benz Awards for Art and Culture in South Africa (until 2010) and Japan.
Since 1989 curator of approximately 100 exhibitions of international young art.
Important solo exhibitions with renowned artists since 1990: Joseph Kosuth, Franz Erhard Walther, Adolf Fleischmann, Rudolf Schoofs, Rolf Nesch, Marcel Odenbach, Gia Edzgveradze, Roman Signer, Christian Marclay, Georg Herold, Martin Kippenberger, Heimo Zobernig, Gerold Miller, Simone Westerwinter, Georg Winter, Sylvie Fleury, John M Armleder, Guy Tillim, Bernie Searle, Jane Alexander, Natalia Stachon, Nic Hess, Luca Trevisani, Bethan Huws.
More than 250 publications on international contemporary art, as well as approximately 300 essays on 20th century art in professional journals, anthologies, and catalogs.
Recent publications (selection):
Peter Roehr. Field Pulsations. Monograph, Snoeck Cologne, 2018. German/English, 408 pages.
Duchamp als Kurator (Duchamp as Curator), Snoeck Cologne, 2017. German/English, 360 pages.
Serial formations. Re-Inszenierung der ersten deutschen Ausstellung internationaler minimalistischer Tendenzen (Re-staging of the first German exhibition of international minimalist tendencies), Snoeck Cologne, 2017. German/English, 240 pages.
Cao Fei. You watch that worlds pass by, Ed. Renate Wiehager / Christian Ganzenberg, Snoeck Cologne, 2015. German/English, 308 pages. Nic Hess. Drawing Installations 1995-2014. Ed. Christian Ganzenberg / Renate Wiehager, Snoeck Cologne, 2014. German/English, 304 pages, 355 color illustrations.
Minimalism in Germany. The Sixties. Hatje Cantz Ostfildern, 2012. German/English, 520 pages, 573 illustrations, 253 in color.
Minimalism and After. Tradition und Tendenzen minimalistischer Kunst von 1950 bis heute (Tradition and tendencies of minimalist art from 1950 to today).
Hatje Cantz Ostfildern, 2010. Monographs for the exhibitions of approximately 190 artists, German/English, 632 pages, 838 illustrations, 672 in color.
Blitzen Benz Bang. Mixed Media, Sculptures, Commissioned Works in the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection. Hatje Cantz Ostfildern, 2009. Monographs for the exhibitions of approximately 170 artists, German/English, 520 pages, 830 illustrations, 802 in color.
Charlotte Posenenske 1930-1985. Hatje Cantz Ostfildern, 2009. German, 216 pages, 410 illustrations, 369 in Color.
Download interviews:
Interview with Renate Wiehager for the publication Managing private Art Collections, 2016
Interview with Renate Wiehager for the Magazine Art289, 2015
Interview with Renate Wiehager for Magazine Kunstpausen by Management School St. Gallen, 2015
Interview with Renate Wiehager for the publication Global Corporate Collections, 2015
Article by Renate Wiehager at Daimler Blog, 2014
Interview with Renate Wiehager for artandsignature, 2014
Interview with Renate Wiehager for MB Magazine Argentina, 2014 spanish version
Talk by Renate Wiehager on Art as a reflective plane at MB Museum, 2017
Download press photos:
Dr. Renate Wiehager, Head of the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection, Stuttgart/Berlin
Fotos: Jürgen Altmann, Stuttgart, 2021
All files are stored in 300dpi print resolution. Due to file size the files are stored as RGB.jpg format and have to be reconverted in the CMYK colour scheme for printing demands
File size: ca. 3 – 5 MB
