Der bewohnte Garten
Contemporary Art Foundation
A Sculpture Garden
The Journey Is the Reward
Halfway between the cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne, near the highway, is a stretch of reclaimed natural landscape. The garden or park that I am talking about has been growing for many years.
At some point many years ago the first sculptures found a final home and slowly the garden was transformed into a place for art. The natural beauty of nature was harmoniously complemented by sculptural works of art that were chosen with obligatory leisure.
The moment that visitors take their first steps along the path through the garden today, they encounter sculptures on a human scale that reflect the sensitivities of humanity.
Their surfaces are sometimes smooth, sometimes rough and layered, soaring upwards elegantly or in stylized distortion. They exude perfection and grace, but they are also marked by life and by the world in conflict. They mix beauty and horror, nature and art, escorting the viewer into spectral and enchanted realms that time and again reveal the imperfection of the world.
The sculptures propel the visitors through the garden, with every step exposing them to natural and man-made phenomena up close and in the distance. There are greatly entertaining and joyful areas, and also quiet ones. Nowhere, however, is there emptiness.
The procession of artworks, most of which were created in close collaboration with the artists specifically for this site, is intended to express appreciation for future visitors to this realm of art and nature who, perhaps for the length of their walk, will joyfully take it into their possession and inhabit it.
Udo Kittelmann
Exhibitions
Visit
Thank you for visiting Der bewohnte Garten this year!
We look very much forward to welcoming you from spring until fall season!
For registration we kindly ask you to e-mail us at [email protected]
All our best wishes
Radio reports about »Der bewohnte Garten«
Hochrangige Kunst in Pulheim
WDR 3 Mosaik. 24.06.2019. 07:05 Min.
Ein neuer spektakulärer Skulpturengarten bei Pulheim
WDR 5 Scala – aktuelle Kultur. 25.06.2019. 06:44 Min.
VOICES ON ART
Podcast with Michael Zimmer. 01.03.2021. 34:54 Min.
ZDF „Volle Kanne“ 19.08.2025
The Foundation
“Der bewohnte Garten” (The Inhabited Garden) is a private art foundation that promotes contemporary art. The foundation focuses on the care and expansion of its sculpture garden. The foundation considers the garden a contemplative place of tranquility and self-discovery, and thus also a bridge to experiencing art as a place of relaxation.
The foundation also promotes contemporary artists with stipends, and the publication of art books, publications on contemporary artists and artworks, and in addition the financial support of museums, especially but not exclusively in the Rhineland region.
These funds may not be applied for. They are granted directly by the Board of Trustees.
Board of Trustees:
Emily Eick
Carola Jansen
Felix Krämer
Michael Zimmer
Chairperson:
Julia Endres
Christina Wimmer
Artists represented in the Foundation Collection
Ai Weiwei
Aladag, Nevin
Albers, Jan
Barry, Robert
Bartlett, Morton
Bayrle, Thomas
Becker, Boris
Bleckner, Ross
Bonin, Cosima von
Bonvicini, Monica
Boyce, Martin
Braegger, Tina
Cope, Marcus
Copley, William N.
Condo, George
Corinth, Lovis
Cragg, Tony
De Kooning, Willem
Dekyndt, Edith
Dodo – Dörte Clara Wolff
Eisenman, Nicole
Emin, Tracey
Evans, Cerith Wyn
Feldmann, Hans-Peter
Förg, Günther
Friedlander, Lee
Gander, Ryan
Genzken, Isa
Gershuni, Moshe
Goodwin, Guy
Gormley, Antony
Götz, K.O.
Graham, Dan
Heinze, Stefanie
Hernández, Diango
Honert, Martin
Huyghe, Pierre
Janke, Karl Hans
Josephsohn, Hans
Junker, Karl
Kafka, Franz
Kara, Melike
Kelm, Annette
Knoebel, Imi
Koenig, Fritz
Kricke, Norbert
Kuehn, Gary
Lieshout, Joep van
Luther, Adolf
Maier, Conny
Majerus, Michel
Marcaccio, Fabian
McCarthy, Paul
Meese, Jonathan
Meppayil, Prabhavathi
Metzel, Olaf
Moore, Henry
Morris, Richard Allen
Mundt, Wilhelm
Nay, Ernst Wilhelm
Nevelson, Louise
Opie, Julian
Otterness, Tom
Parreno, Philippe
Prince, Richard
Reed, David
Rehberger, Tobias
Reimann, Anys
Richter, Gerhard
Rinke, Klaus
Rogers, Bunny
Ruff, Thomas
Sander, Karin
Scheibitz, Thomas
Schütte, Thomas
Schwontkowski, Norbert
Shulman, Julius
Shtini, Lui
Shi-hua, Qiu
Sintenis, Renée
Skreber, Dirk
Slominski, Andreas
Sturtevant, Elaine
Tillmans, Wolfgang
Tobias, Gert & Uwe
Trockel, Rosemarie
Ungerer, Tomi
Villèlia, Moisès
West, Franz
Weaver, Grace
White, Austin Martin
Whitten, Jack
Widener, George
„KIDSDAY“ is an ongoing project of Der bewohnte Garten since 2022 in collaboration with „Stiftung - Dein Zuhause hilft „ and „Jumpers - Jugend mit Perspektive“. The project enables children from underprivileged backgrounds to access art, enjoy it and learn about it playfully. The program aims to lower barriers and become knowledgable and comfortable with the topic of art.
For the future we would like to extend the program and develop ideas to broaden the audience.
Thank you to our collaborators and the children who are attending and continuously return.
»A Sculpture Garden«
Herausgegeben von Udo Kittelmann & Michael Zimmer
Mit Arbeiten von George Condo, Antony Gormley, Martin
Honert, Pierre Huyghe, Hans Josephsohn, Fritz Koenig,
Joep van Lieshout, Paul McCarthy, Olaf Metzel, Wilhelm
Mundt, Thomas Schütte, Franz West
mit Fotografien von Boris Becker
196 nn. Seiten mit 125 teils mont. Farbabb. und 3 beil.
gefaltete Bl., Halbleineneinband, 17,5 × 23,5 cm,
deutsch/englisch
Verlag Stefan Schuelke Fine Books, Köln, 2019
ISBN 978-3-9817863-7-8 / € 39,80
Vorzugsausgabe mit einer nummerierten und signierten
Fotografie von Boris Becker; sechs Motive in einer Auflage
von je fünf Exemplaren. € 1200
Chronik des »freyadeligen Rittersitzes«
Hasselrath in Stommeln
von Anja Schmid-Engbrodt,
herausgegeben von Anja Schmid-Engbrodt und
Stiftung »Der bewohne Garten«
104 Seiten mit 55 Abbildungen, Halbleineneinband,
17,5 × 23,5 cm, deutsch
Vertrieb durch Stefan Schuelke Fine Books, Köln, 2020
ISBN 978-3-9821290-2-0 / € 23
Tracey Emin, born 1963 in Croydon, London, UK, is a British artist. She lives and works in London.
Tracy Emin
I lay here for you, 2018
Bronze
AP I/II
147 × 638 × 258 cm (57⁷⁄₈ × 251³⁄16 × 112³⁄16)
Installed 2019
Gary Kuehn, born 1939 in Plainfield, New Jersey, USA, is a US American graphic artist and sculptor. He lives and works in New York City and Wellfleet, Massachusetts.
Gary Kuehn
Substantial Offer, 1975
Wood, steel
243,8 × 81,3 × 61 cm (96 × 32 × 24 in.)
Installed 2019
Paul McCarthy, born 1945 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, is a US American sculptor and performance artist. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Paul McCarthy
Henry Moore Bound to Fail (Bronze), 2004
Bronze
Edition 1/3 + 1 AP
600 × 410 × 304 cm (236¹⁄₄ × 161³⁄₈ × 119⁵⁄₈ in.)
Installed 2006
Position by Two Worlds, 2004
Pencil on paper
13 × 21 cm (58¹⁄₈ × 8¹⁄₄ in.)
George Condo, born 1957 in Concord, New Hampshire, USA, is an US American painter and sculptor. He lives and works in New York City.
George Condo
Nude on Wine Crates 2, 2017
Bronze
Edition 1 + 1 AP
304 × 30,5 cm (119³⁄₄ × 12 in.)
Installed 2018
Sir Antony Mark David Gormley, OBE, born 1950 in London, United Kingdom, is a British sculptor. He lives and works in London.
Still Running, 1990/1993
Cast iron and air
Edition 1/2
317 × 276 × 148 cm (124³⁄₄ × 108⁵⁄₈ × 58¹⁄₄ in.)
Installed 2005
Exercise between Blood and Earth, 1979 – 1981
Chalk on wall
184 × 184 cm (72¹⁄₂ × 72¹⁄₂ in.)
Martin Honert, born 1953 in Bottrop, Germany, is a contemporary German artist. He lives and works in Düsseldorf and Dresden.
Martin Honert
Zelt, 2001
Polyester, metal
Edition 2/3
140 × 223 × 410 cm
(55¹⁄₈ × 87³⁄₄ × 161¹⁄₂ in.)
Installed 2012
Pierre Huyghe, born 1962 in Paris, France, is a French visual artist. Huyghe lives and works in Paris.
Pierre Huyghe
Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt), 2012
Concrete cast on steel armature with beehive, live bee colony, plastic, and wax
Edition 4/5 + 1 AP
105 × 145 × 44,5 cm (41³⁄₈ × 57¹⁄₈ ×17¹⁄₂ in.)
Installed 2012
Bee Plants / Zimmer Garden, 2012
Felt-tip pen on paper
54 × 48 cm (21¹⁄₄ × 18⁷⁄₈ in.)
Hans Josephsohn, born 20 May 1920 in what was then Königsberg, East Prussia, died 20 August 2012 in Zurich, Switzerland, was a Swiss sculptor.
Hans Josephsohn
Ohne Titel, Halbfigur, 1995
Brass
Edition 1/6 + 2 AP
155 × 96 × 63 cm (61× 37³⁄₄ × 24³⁄₄ in.)
Installed 2005
Fritz Koenig, born June 20, 1924, in Würzburg, Germany, died February 22, 2017, in Altdorf (Lower Bavaria), Germany, was a German sculptor.
Fritz Koenig
Große gerahmte Figuren, 1962
Bronze
Edition 1/3
138,5 × 165 × 12 cm (54¹⁄₂ × 64 ×4³⁄₄ in.)
Installed 2014
Joep van Lieshout, born 1963 in Ravenstein, North Brabant, Netherlands, is a Dutch sculptor and object artist. He lives and works in Rotterdam.
Joep van Lieshout
The Leader, 2017
Bronze
Edition 1/2 + 1 AP
210 × 90 × 330 cm (82⁵⁄₈ × 35¹⁄₂ × 129⁷⁄₈ in.)
Installed 2017
Olaf Metzel, born 1952 in Berlin, Germany, is a German sculptor and object artist. He lives and works in Munich.
Olaf Metzel
Turkish Delight, 2006
Green patinated bronze on basalt base
170 × 34 × 30 cm (66⁵⁄₈ × 13³⁄₈ × 11³⁄₄ in.)
Installed 2008
Olaf Metzel
Kopftuch, 2005
Pencil and pastel crayon on paper
39,8 × 29,8 cm (15⁵⁄₈ × 11³⁄₄ in.)
Wilhelm Mundt, born 1959 in Grevenbroich, Germany, is a German sculptor. He lives and works in Düsseldorf.
Wilhelm Mundt
Trashstone 180, 184, 187, 1999 – 2000
Production residue in aluminum
141 × 96 × 64 cm (55¹⁄₂ × 37³⁄₄ ×25¹⁄₈ in.)
155 × 96 × 64 cm (61 × 37³⁄₄ × 25¹⁄₈ in.)
116 × 93 × 77 cm (45³⁄₄ × 36⁵⁄₈ × 30¹⁄₄ in.)
Installed 2007
Thomas Schütte, born 1954 in Oldenburg, Germany, is a German sculptor and graphic artist. He lives and works in Düsseldorf.
Thomas Schütte
Gartenzwerge, 2015 – 2016
Seven glazed ceramic figures on concrete base
l 370 × 213,5 cm (l 145³⁄₄ × 84 in.)
Installed 2018
Bunny Rogers, born 1990 in Houston, Texas is an American artist. She lives and works in New York City.
Bunny Rogers
Techo (Blue), 2021
Patinated bronze
320 x 234 x 170 cm (126 x 92 x 67 in.)
Installed 2022
Franz West, born 16 February 1947 in Vienna, Austria, where he also died 25 July 2012, counted among the most significant contemporary visual artists in Austria. He lived and worked in Vienna.
Franz West
Lemure, 2004
Coated aluminum, steel
220 × 140 × 80 cm (86⁵⁄₈ × 55¹⁄₈ × 31¹⁄₂ in.)
Installed 2015
Cosima von Bonin, born 1962 in Mombasa, Kenya, is a german artist. She lives and works in Cologne, Germany.
Cosima von Bonin
The Italian – no nose version, 2019
Wood fibre glass, reinforced plastic, travertine
220 × 85 × 100 cm (86 5/8 × 33 1/2 × 39 7/16 in.)
Installed 2020
Bunny Rogers' large-format Neopets in bronze were presented in the inhabited garden in summer 2022. For the first time, the artist showed all three of her Neopets "Techo", "Chia" and "Shoyru" together. These figures are iconic to Bunny Rogers’ work. She designed these characters as a child in the online game Neopia, which she obsessively played. In this game children invent their own pets and care for them. For Bunny Rogers, Neopia meant a digital home and she has fundamental childhood memories with it: “Acting in the online world showed me a new, large community,” says Rogers, “and gave me hope that what I was doing would not always remain unnoticed.”
With the Neopet sculptures, Bunny Rogers makes this part of her childhood tangible for us. Rogers pushes the boundaries of personal experience. Reality and virtuality blur to reflect on loss, alienation, intimacy and community.
With the acquisition of the bronze mythical creature “Techo” (2021), the inhabited garden is now opening up to a new generation of so called digital natives.
With “Courbetten rechts” (Courbetten right), Wilhelm Mundt is the first artist to exhibit at the indoor riding arena and stables at “Der Bewohnte Garten” (The Inhabited Garden). The title of the exhibition goes back to a copperplate engraving by Johann Elias Ridinger. The engraving from 1734 shows a disproportionate rider on an equally disproportionate horse. The subtitle to the illustrated dressage figure reads: “The rider raises the whip high because the good horse does not need it. In the riding arena.”
In the exhibition, Mundt refers to the specific architecture, which is designed to perfectly care for and control the animal. The fences and the multitude of gates and locks are essential elements for organizing accessibility.
Accessibility, or rather the play with inaccessibility, is the basis for the conception of this exhibition. Whilst some works are within easy reach, others such as “Trashstone 532” is shielded several times in the middle of the indoor riding arena. The non-participatory character of Wilhelm Mundt's sculptures is perfectly reflected in this agricultural Gründerzeit (Wilhelminian style) architecture.
