Wolfgang Laib creates sculptures and installations that seem to connect past and present, the ephemeral and the eternal. He employs simple, yet highly symbolic, organic materials that are usually associated with sustenance, such as pollen, milk, beeswax and rice. He arranges a limited number of elements in a formal way, following a rigorous process of conception and installation. Ritual plays a central role in the process of reduction and contributes to his spare aesthetic. Each year, during the spring and summer months, he collects pollen from the fields surrounding his home in a remote region of Germany's Black Forest, displaying this laboriously gathered material in simple glass jars or sifting it directly onto the floor to create large fields of spectacular colour.
Laib's work is profoundly connected to his experiences in India and Southeast Asia, regions that he first visited on family trips as a young teenager. Over his 40-year career, he has always been less concerned with innovation or formal development than with continuity. Following a mode of thinking central to many Eastern philosophies, he considers himself a vehicle for ideas of universality and timelessness already present in nature. As the artist describes: 'The pollen recalls the beginning and creation; the rice mountains and the beeswax Ziggurat (pyramid and steps) nourishment and the bond of the sky with the earth; in the end, fire recalls destruction and the possible renewal of the world, the transformation of what is physical to a new cycle, to a state of change.' Channelling these principles, his works invite a contemplative, even meditative, engagement from the viewer.
Born in Metzingen, Germany, Wolfgang Laib studied medicine at the University of Tübingen from 1968–74 before becoming an artist. His work was presented at documenta in 1982 and 1987, and his first major institutional exhibition was held at the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris in 1986. He has subsequently been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, notably at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2002); Dallas Museum of Art (2002); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2002–03); Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2005–06); Fondazione Merz, Turin (2009); and MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2010). His largest pollen piece to date was installed in the atrium of The Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2013. The same year, the artist’s first permanent installation of a beeswax room opened at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. In 2014, Laib’s From the Known to the Unknown—To Where Is Your Oracle Leading You, a 40-metre-long underground chamber made of beeswax, was permanently installed in Anselm Kiefer’s studio La Ribaute in Barjac. In 2015, he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo. In 2017, an exhibition of his work was shown at the Secretariat in Yangon, Myanmar and a survey show was organised by the Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. In 2019, several of Laib’s works were shown across historical sites in Florence, Italy, in a city-wide exhibition organised by the Museo del Novecento. In 2022, the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Switzerland presented his temporary installation of a laid-out field comprised of thousands of rice mounds and in 2023 the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart presented a major retrospective exhibition, including the artist's latest works.
2024
Wolfgang Laib – Eine Hommage an Jakob Bräckle, Museum Biberach, Biberach, Germany
MIT ANDEREN AUGEN, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel, Germany
Wolfgang Laib, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France
2023
Wolfgang Laib. The Beginning of Something Else, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Wolfgang Laib: City of Silence, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Marais, France
2022
Wolfgang Laib: City of Silence, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
Wolfgang Laib: Crossing the River, Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Chur, Switzerland
Wolfgang Laib, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2021
Wolfgang Laib, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2020
Wolfgang Laib: Towers of Silence, Buchmann Galerie, Lugano, Switzerland
Wolfgang Laib, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019
Without Time Without Place Without Body, Museo Novecento, Florence, Italy
2018
Where the Land and Water End, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2017
The Beginning of Something Else, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Wolfgang Laib, MASI, Lugano, Switzerland
Where the Land and Water End, Secretariat Yangon, Goethe Institut Myanmar, Yangon, Myanmar
Somewhere Else, Church of Santa Maria della Spina, Pisa, Italy
Wolfgang Laib, Il Museo d'arte della Svizzera Italiana (MASI), Lugano, Switzerland
2016
Wolfgang Laib, ADAA: The Art Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY, USA
Wolfgang Laib, Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy
2015
Wolfgang Laib, Buchmann Box, Berlin, Germany
Wolfgang Laib, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2014
From the Known to the Unkown - To Where is Your Oracle Leading You?, Studio Anselm Kiefer, La Ribaute, Barjac, France
Wolfgang Laib, Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
Wolfgang Laib: Lebensfries - Frieze of Life, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Dusseldorf, Germany
Wolfgang Laib, Basilica of Sant'Apollinare, Classe, Ravenna, Italy
2013
Pollen from Hazelnut, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
Without Beginning and Withour End, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
Laib Wax Room, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, USA
Wolfgang Laib: From Me All Has Risen, In Me All Exists, In Me All Dissolves (kaivalya upanisad), Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, NY, USA
2012
Passageway inside - downside, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg-Halle, Austria
Passageway inside, Vehedra Art Gallery, D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi, India
2011
Gallery André Buchmann, Berlin, Germany
Unlimited Ocean, SAIC Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL, USA
Gallery Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
Gallery Steinruecke & Mirchandani, Mumbai, India
2010
Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
Manzana Uno Art Gallery, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz, Bolivia
2009
Wolfgang Laib, Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy
Wolfgang Laib, Gian Gallery Sperone, Sent, Switzerland
Pasotraspaso, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico-City, Mexico
Without Place - Without Time - Without Body, Nelson-Atkins-Museum, Kansas City, MO, USA
Gallery Sean Kelly, New York, NY, USA
2008
Wolfgang Laib: Without Place - Without Time - Without Body, Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
Gallery Buchmann, Berlin, Germany
Gallery Artiaco, Napoli, Italy
2007
Without Beginning - Without End, MNCARS Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Reina Sofía, Madrid
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Where are you going?, Galerie Thaddaues Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2006
Wolfgang Laib, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland
Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lasalle-Sia, Singapore
Reishäuser, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2005
Wolfgang Laib, Third Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Project, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Wolfgang Laib, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Roma, Italy
Wolfgang Laib, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland
2004
Wolfgang Laib - Where the Land and Water Ends, Buchmann Galerie, Cologne, Germany
Wolfgang Laib - Passageway-Overgoing, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Wolfgang Laib, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, Germany
Wolfgang Laib: Passageway-Overgoin, Lawrence-Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia, Australia
2003
Wolfgang Laib: Drawings and Photographs, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Wolfgang Laib: Durchgang-Übergang, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
Wolfgang Laib: Passageway-Overgoing, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea
Wolfgang Laib, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Japan
2002
Selection of Sculpture and Drawing, Goethe Institut, New York, NY, USA
Wolfgang Laib: Photographies - Oeuvres récentes, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
Wolfgang Laib, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
Wolfgang Laib: Drawings and Photographs, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks and Projects, New York, NY, USA
2001
Wolfgang Laib, Drawings and 'Ship', Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Dusseldorf, Germany
Für einen anderen Körper - Wolfgang Laib, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
2000
Wolfgang Laib, A Retrospective, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Wolfgang Laib: Une chambre de cire pour la montagne, Roc del Maure (Pyrénées Orientales), Prieuré de Marcevol, France
Wolfgang Laib, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA
Wolfgang Laib, Sara Hildén Kunstmuseum, Tampere, Finland
1999
Carré d'Art, Musée d'art contemporain, Nîmes, France
Milleventi, Milan, Italy
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
Wolfgang Laib; Blütenstaub Von Kiefern, Buchmann Galerie Köln, Cologne, Germany
1998
The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Galleria Artiaco, Napoli, Italy
1997
Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Orangerie, Germany
1996
Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf, Germany
Gallery Artek, Helsinki, Finland
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Diozensanmuseum, Cologne, Germany
Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1995
Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
1994
Henry Moore Studio, Dean Clough, Halifax, UK
Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany
J.H. de Pont Foundation, Tilburg, Netherlands
1993
Sperone Westwater, 121 Greene St., New York, NY, USA
Galerie Buchman, Basel, Switzerland
1992
CAPC Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Burnett Miller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Wolfgang Laib, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Galleria Artiaco, Napoli, Italy
Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Ascona, Italy
The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
1991
Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
Gallery Senda, Hiroshima, Japan
Galerie Buchmann, Basel, Switzerland
Kanransha, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie Crousel-Robelin Bama, Paris, France
Wolfgang Laib, Pollen Installation, Center For Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Lightseed Watari-um, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
1990
Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany
Galerie Buchmann, Basel, Switzerland
Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf, Germany
Burnett Miller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Rhona Hoffmann Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
1989
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
Galerie Buchmann, Basel, Switzerland
Galerie Crousel-Robelin Bama, Paris, France
Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany
1988
Gallery Lelong, New York, NY, USA
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, USA
Wolfgang Laib: Selected Works Burnett Miller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Lichtjahr 1988 Ruine der Künste, Berlin, Germany
Musee Departemental de Rochechouart, Chateau de Rochechouart, France
Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain
1987
Galerie Buchmann, Basel, Switzerland
1986
ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Galerie Maeght Lelong, New York, NY, USA
Galerie Crousel-Hussenot, Paris, France
CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France
1985
Wolfgang Laib, Robert Ryman, Ian Wilson, Galerie Maeght Lelong, New York, NY, USA
Kunstverein St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
1984
The rice meals for the nine planets, Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany
1983
Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany
The sixty-three rice meals for a stone, Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf, Germany
1982
Gewad, Gent, Belgium
Galerie Konrad Fischer, Zurich, Switzerland
Biennale, Venice, German Pavilion together with Hanne Darboven and Gotthard Graubner, Venice, Italy
1981
Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, NT, USA
Galerie Max Hetzler, Stuttgart, Germany
Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany
1980
Ink, together with Brice Marden, Gerhard Merz, Gilberto Zorio, Zurich, Switzerland
1979
Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, NY, USA
Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany
Galerie Jean et Karen Bernier, Athens, Greece
1978
Galleria Salvatore Ala, Milan, Italy
Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf, Germany
Kunstraum München, Munich, Germany
Galerie Rolf Preisig, Basel, Switzerland
1976
Galerie Müller-Roth, Stuttgart, Germany
2024
MIT ANDEREN AUGEN, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel, Germany
This Is Us, S.M.A.K. - Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Gent, Belgium
2022
De la nature, Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
Listen to the Sound of the Earth Turning: Our Wellbeing Since the Pandemic, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
2021
In Search Of The Miraculous, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Feeling the Stones, 1st Ad-Diriyah Biennale, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia
La Couleur crue, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, France
Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM, USA
2020
In Situ, Peter Freeman, New York, NY, USA
Selected works, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Nur nichts anbrennen lassen, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
30 Years in Paris, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
2018
Black Light: Secret traditions in art since the 1950s, CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Dream, Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, Italy
It Comes in Waves, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
Königsklasse IV. Gegenwartskunst in Schloss Herrenchiemsee. Laib | Warhol | Flavin | Rainer | Basquiat, Pinakothek der Moderne, Schloss Herrenchiemsee, Herrenchiemsee, Germany
2017
Out of Sight! Art of the Senses, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA
La vie secrète des plantes, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
COLORI: L'emozione dei COLORI nell'arte, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy
Works on Paper, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
2016
(SUS)tentations, La Brasserie, Foncquevillers
Ether, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
Rhona Hoffman: 40 Years, Part 1, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
With a Touch of Pink - With a Bit of Violet - With a Hint of Green - Dorothee Fisher - In Memoriam, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
2015
Giorgio Morandi, Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA), New York, NY, USA
Giovanni Anselmo - Wolfgang Laib - Ettore Spalletti, Galleria Lia Rumma, Milan, Italy
2014
Senusret III, a Legendary Pharaoh, Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille, Lille, France
Summer Sculpture, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
White Marble and Paint, from the Antiquity to Now, Reformierte Dorfkirche, St. Moritz, Switzerland
2011
180°: Die Sammlung im Kubus Willi Baumeister, Dieter Roth, Otto Dix, Wolfgang Laib, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Auf den zweiten Blick - Werke aus der Sammlung, Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm, Germany
Private Passions, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
2010
ColorForms, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpturre Garden, Washington DC, USA
Personal Structures Time Space Existence, Künstlerhaus Plais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz, Austria
Retour vers le future, CAPC Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
With a Probability of Being Seen. Dorothee and Konrad Fischer, Museu D'Art Contemporani de Barcelon, Barcelona, Spain
Schauwerk, Sindelfingen, Germany
Transparency - Art for renewable Energy, Macro Testaccio, Roma, Madre and Napoli, Italy
Architectural Biennal, Venice, Italy
Dorothee und Konrad Fischer: Archiv einer Haltung, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Kleve, Germany
Bild für Bild - Film und zeitgenössische Kunst aus der Sammlung des Centre Pompidou, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
2009
Fuentes, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy
2008
Fondation pour l'art contemporain, Claudine et Jean-Marc Salomon, Alex, France
+Without Place - Without Time - Without Body+, Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
Fiac Paris, Paris, France
2007
Still Points of the Turning World, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico
Le Mouvement des Images, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Buchmann Galerie, Buchmann Box, Berlin, Germany
Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin/Beijing, Germany/China
Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
2006
Against the Grain: Contemporary Art from the Edward R. Broida Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
At Home Recent Acquisitions, MMoCA - Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Madison, WI, USA
FRIENDLY GAME SCULPTURE 06 Freundschaftsspiel, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Monuments with a Horizon Line, Buchmann Galerie Berlin, Berlin, Germany
SITE Santa Fe Biennal 2006, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico, NM, USA
Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Villa Massimo, Roma, Italy
2005
Wow: The Work of the Work, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
2004
Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated): Art from 1951 to the Present, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA
home, sweet home, Galleria Cardi, Milan, Italy
Off the Wall: Works for the JP Morgan Chase Collection, The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, USA
Passageway- Overgoing, Guangdong Museum of Art, German Consulate General, Guangzhou, China
Seeing other people, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Exploring Ando's Space: Art and the Spiritual, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, MO, USA
2003
Social Strategies: Redefining Social Realism, curated by Klaus Ottman and Pamela Auchincloss, University Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA
Richard E. Peeler Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana Schick Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
2002
The Inward Eye, Transcendence in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA
2001
Locating Drawing, Lawing Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
El Instante Eterno, Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló, Castello, Spain
Before Reflection Begins, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, RI, USA
2000
Cosmologies, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
Around 1984, A look at Art in the Eighties, P.S.1, New York, NY, USA
Fiona Rae, Wolfgang Laib, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Shadow of Reason, Exploring the Spiritual in European Identity in the 20th Century, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
Enclosed and Enchanted, MOMA Oxford, UK
Anselmo, Merz, Penone, Kounellis, Laib, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
A Century of Innocence - The Story of the White Monochrome, The Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Mälmo, Sweden
1999
Powder, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, USA
In Passing, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, NY, USA
Minimalia, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Loaf, Baumgartner Galleries Inc, New York, NY, USA
78th Exhibition of Artist Members, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
1999
The collection of the 'Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain', Palazzo delle papesse, centro Arte Contemporanea, Italy
1998
The Edward R. Broida Collection: A Selection of Works, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, USA
Early Forms, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
Être nature, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France
Ensemble Moderne: The Still Life in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris, France
Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall på Arken: Udvalgte værker fra samlingen/Selections from the Collection, Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst, Sweden
1997
Cittá Natura, Palazzo delle Espozioni, Roma, Italy
Epicenter Ljubljana, Moderna Galeria, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
Hayward Gallery, London, UK
La Biennale di Venezia. XLVII Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte, Venice, Italy
4e Biennale de Lyon d'art contemporain Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon, France
97 Kwangju Biennale: Unmapping the Earth, Kwangju, Korea
Anselmo, Boetti, Laib, Merz, Nauman, Paolini, Pistoletto, Vital, Zorio Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
1996
The House Transformed, Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Time Wise, The Swiss Institute, New York, NY, USA
Luis Barragán: Sitio + Superficie. Su obra y la vanguardia en el arte, Mexico City, Mexico
Spirit and Place, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Wolfgang Laib, Tatsuo Miyajima, Michel Verjux: Entgrenzung, Buchmann Galerie, Cologne, Germany
1995
Fondation Cartier, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
From Nature, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Auf Papier: Kust des 20. Jahrhunderts aus der Deutschen Bank, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Kunst in Deutschland, Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
1994
Figur, Natur, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
Entre le ciel et l'eau, Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
CAPC Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
German Art: Aspekte Deutscher Kunst 1964-1994 der Salzburg Festspiele, Galerie Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Galerie Ropac, Paris, France
Drawing On Sculpture, Cohen Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1993
Les Environs, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, New York, NY, USA
A Century of Silence, University Art Museum, State University of New York at Binghamtom, New York, NY, USA
The 21st Century, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Chateau d'Oiron, Oiron, France
Azur, Foundation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Jouy-En-Josas, France
GAS, Grandiose Ambitieux Silencieux, CAPC Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
De Opening, De Pont Foundation for Contemporary Art, Tilburg, Netherlands
The Language of Flowers, Paul Kasmin, New York, NY, USA
1992
Vorhut aus dem Hinterland, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen, Germany
Exposition Sentimentale, Musee d'Art Moderne, Collioure, France
Territorium Artis, Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
Anselmo, Laib, Nauman, Umberg, Miller Nordenhake, Cologne, Germany
Habeas Corpus, Stux Gallery, New York, NY, USA
15th Anniversary Exhibition, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
1991
5th Anniversary Group Exhibition, Burnett Miller, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Un Detail immense, Palais de Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, France
Das Goldene Zeitalter, Würtembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany
With Nature, Galerie Lelong, New York, NY, USA
The Lick of the Eye, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
1990
Threshold, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway
Signs of Life, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadephia, PA, USA
Lead and Wax, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1989
Hortus Artis, Orto Botanico, Turin, Italy
Color and/or Monochrome, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
Glanzlichter, Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany
Einleuchten, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
1988
Zeitlos, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
Rosc, Dublin, Ireland
Defacto, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
Carnegie International 88, The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
1987
Wechselströme. Kontemplation, Expression, Konstruktion, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
documenta 8, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
Bremer Kunstpreis 1987, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Century 87, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands
New Locations, Wolff Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1986
Falls the Shadow, Recent British and European Art, The Hayward Annual, Hayward Art Gallery, London, UK
The Sixth Biennale of Sydney 1986: Origins, Originality + Beyond, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
3. Triennale der Kleinplastik, Fellbach, Germany
De Sculptura, Wiener Festwochen im Messepalast, Vienna, Austria
SkulpturSein, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
1985
1945 bis 1985, Kunst in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
East West Visual Arts Encounter, Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay, India
Spuren, Skulpturen und Monumente ihrer präzisen Reise, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Ouverture II, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
1983
Materie + Form, ETH, Naturwissenschaftliches Gebaude, Zurich, Switzerland
Ars '83 Helsinke, Ateneumin Taidemuseo, Helsinki, Finland
Kosmische Bilder in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
The Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
1982
University Art Museum, Providence, Rhode Island, RI, USA
documenta 7, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
Kunst wird Material, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
1981
Art Allemagne Aujourd'hui, ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Annemarie-und-Will Grohmann-Stipendium, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
1980
I. Ausstellung der Jürgen Ponto-Stiftung, Karmeliterkloster, Frankfurt, Germany
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
France
Capc, Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux
Carré d'Art-Musée d'art contemporain, Nîmes
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Collections de l'Etat Français
Musée d'art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne, Rochechouart
Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble
Finland
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Germany
Diözesanmuseum, Cologne
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
Sprengel Museum, Hanover
Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, Stuttgart
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe
Japan
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota
Netherlands
De Pont Museum, Tilburg
South Korea
Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
Switzerland
Kunsthaus, Zürich
Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, St. Gallen
LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, Lugano
USA
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
2015
Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo, Japan
1987
Arnold-Bode-Price of documenta, Kassel, Germany