Mischa Kuball takes up a visiting professorship at the University of Wuppertal
Mischa Kuball has taken up a new post as visiting professor at the University of Wuppertal at the start of the winter term. // Photo: Nicola Wefers, documenta Archive, Kassel
Mischa Kuball has been working in public and institutional spaces since 1977. In his projects, he explores how public spaces are designed, perceived and used. His works combine architectural and urban structures with issues of social participation and social interaction. Light is his central artistic medium.
“We at the University of Wuppertal have long had close ties with Mischa Kuball. His artwork ‘MetaLicht’ has become a defining feature above the rooftops of Wuppertal. We are delighted that we have now also been able to recruit him as a lecturer,” explains Prof. Dr Birgitta Wolff, Rector of the University of Wuppertal. “He will open up further opportunities for us and our students to make an impact on society through artistic solutions.”
Kuball, too, sees the visiting professorship as an opportunity to closely link artistic practice with university teaching: “What particularly interests and inspires me about working with students is our shared perspective on public space: what kinds of spaces do we want to create as a society, how can we reinterpret them, and what role can art play in this? With its distinctive urban structure and rich history, Wuppertal offers a particularly exciting starting point for this.”
Transdisciplinary projects in public space
In the winter semester of 2026/27, Kuball will lead the specialisation module ‘Public Art & Design Curating – Kunsthalle Barmen as an Urban Laboratory’. Students from the fields of art and Public Interest Design will explore the interplay between art, design, science and the urban public sphere. The Kunsthalle Barmen can serve as a concrete location and practical setting for transdisciplinary projects and artistic exploration.
About the person
Mischa Kuball, born in Düsseldorf in 1959, has been working as a conceptual artist in public and institutional spaces since 1977. From 2007 to 2026, he was Professor of Art in Public Spaces at the Cologne Academy of Media Arts. Prior to that, he taught media art at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (ZKM).
Kuball has been a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 2015. In 2016, he was awarded the German Light Art Prize. His more recent projects include, amongst others, ‘under construction / public preposition’ in Dortmund, ‘NEWTON GOETHE GALILEO’ in Rome and ‘boiler house’ in Berlin.
