Häusler Contemporary Munich is forming a new constellation

Häusler Contemporary is pleased to announce a new formation of its Munich gallery: as of March 1, 2020 – and after almost thirty years of being active in the city –  Christa and Wolfgang Häusler will hand over their eponymous gallery at Maximilianstrasse to their director there, Max Goelitz, to run it under his own name. This new configuration, however, does not imply that the established gallerist couple will retire from the art scene. Häusler Contemporary Munich will continue to exist, but as a private sales office with a focus on projects by the US American artist James Turrell. Wolfgang Häusler will also continue to lead the gallery Häusler Contemporary Zurich.

“Having demonstrated his outstanding commitment for concept and programming as well as his international experience, and given the challenge that a succession within the family was not possible, Max Goelitz seemed like the perfect candidate to lead this gallery into the twenty-first century. We are confident that he will maintain its profile, honour previous achievements, and preserve existing relationships with artists and clients in the most responsible way,” says Wolfgang Häusler. “For my wife and myself, the transfer of leadership implies new thinking on various levels, possibly best described as ‘redirecting energies’. My continued activities in Munich will centre on content-related work and projects with artists with whom I’ve been closely connected on a professional and personal level for decades.”


Christa Häusler adds: “This step also reaffirms our commitment to Munich as a gallery location. For almost thirty years we have witnessed so many developments, and we continue to strongly believe in the potential for art advising and mediation in the city. We are very pleased to have found an excellent, future-facing solution to the generational issue for our gallery, which will hopefully benefit the overall dynamics of the Munich art scene.”

Max Goelitz will open his first exhibition under his own name in early April 2020. Programming-wise, he will build on the gallery’s existing approach, focusing on artists working in an abstract, conceptual vein in various mediums, from painting and sculpture to architecture and light art. The portfolio of services will continue to include individual consulting, the implementation of large-scale projects and commissions, and more.

“I am deeply honoured by the faith expressed by the Häuslers in this handover,” says Max Goelitz. “This transition represents a fantastic opportunity to combine tradition and modernity – to maintain the highest international relevance yet with strong roots in the local environment. At the same time, I intend to expand the program inter-generationally, continue to build a worldwide network of gallery partners, and create new, innovative formats. All those endeavours stem directly from our mission to enable free artistic production and facilitate individual encounters with art.”

As mentioned, the business operations of Häusler Contemporary’s Zurich space will remain unchanged; under the auspices of the Häuslers, that gallery will continue to present exhibitions of its artists. And the galleries Max Goelitz and Häusler Contemporary Zurich will collaborate on projects in the future – a further expression of the network concept.

About Häusler Contemporary

Häusler Contemporary counts among the finest addresses for contemporary art in Munich and Zurich. It maintains an expansive exhibition calendar and an artist roster featuring international members of the post-avant-garde and current abstract-conceptual positions, with a special emphasis on light art. Its artists include James Turrell, Brigitte Kowanz, and Keith Sonnier. In parallel to its exhibition activity, project-based work in the field of art and architecture has resulted in high-profile, multi-year commissions and larger complexes of work for companies and private collectors, James Turrell’s Skyspace Lech in Austria being the latest example. Wolfgang Häusler has extensive experience in selling large collections to institutions, such as the Ricke Collection, which was acquired by the Kunst Museum Liechtenstein, Vaduz; the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; and the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland. In equal measure, the positioning of artists such as Roman Signer, Bill Bollinger, Gary Kuehn, David Reed and Michael Venezia within the European museum landscape is closely connected to initiatives by Wolfgang Häusler. Häusler Contemporary was founded by Wolfgang Häusler and Dr Christa Häusler in Bregenz, Austria, in 1988, and relocated to Munich in 1992.

The Häuslers opened a second gallery in Zurich in 2007. Over the past five years, thanks in great part to collaborations with international partners, Häusler Contemporary has enjoyed an expanded presence at art fairs and developed new markets, especially in Latin America and the United States.

About Max Goelitz

Max Goelitz has been professionally active in the international art market for more than fifteen years. For the past seven years he has led Häusler Contemporary Munich as director, where he contributed substantially to the organisation of more than eighty internal and external exhibition projects and coordinated multiple participations in international art fairs. He was crucial in the expansion of the gallery’s activities beyond the German-speaking markets, especially in Latin America, where he established a close and successful partnership with one of Mexico’s leading galleries, Galería OMR, starting in 2013. On behalf of Häusler Contemporary, he has coordinated large-scale projects and exhibitions by the US American artist James Turrell, such as the recent retrospectives at the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany (2018) and the Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2019). Together with Lukas and Sebastian Baden, Goelitz ran FGS gallery in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 2006 to 2010, showcasing the young program at important art fairs such as Art Cologne; Artissima, Turin; and Zona Maco, Mexico City. During his early years as a gallerist he also worked at a student business consultancy and founded a start-up company developing software solutions for the art market. Goelitz studied art history and cultural management at the University of Karlsruhe and the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe.