About
About
Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser, who were joined by Partner and President Marc Payot in 2000. A family business with a global outlook, Hauser & Wirth represents over 90 artists and estates who have been instrumental in shaping its identity and who are the inspiration for Hauser & Wirth’s diverse range of activities that engage with art, education, conservation and sustainability.
The gallery has built a reputation for its dedication to artists and support of visionary artistic projects worldwide. In addition to presenting a dynamic schedule of exhibitions, the gallery collaborates with renowned curators to present museum quality surveys and invests considerable resources in new scholarship and research. Since its earliest days, Hauser & Wirth has mounted historically significant exhibitions. The inaugural exhibition in 1992 took place at Hauser & Wirth’s first gallery, located in the first-floor apartment of an Art Deco villa in the heart of Zurich; it united mobiles and gouaches by Alexander Calder with sculptures and paintings by Joan Miró. Since then, the gallery has continued to forge an ambitious and academically rigorous program of historic exhibitions, providing a natural home for a number of major 20th-century artist estates and encouraging a continued and engaging discourse around their oeuvres. These include Louise Bourgeois, The Estate of Philip Guston, The Eva Hesse Estate, Allan Kaprow Estate, Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, The Estate of Jason Rhoades, Dieter Roth Estate and The Estate of David Smith.
Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth and Marc Payot, Presidents, Hauser & Wirth. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: David Needleman / AUGUST
Ursula Hauser in her New York home, 2018. Background: Martin Creed, Work No. 2197, 2015 ©️ Martin Creed. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2024. Photo: Axel Dupeux
Our history
On the occasion of our 30th anniversary in 2022, you can explore an interactive digital experience that chronologically traces the journey of Hauser & Wirth and the artists who shaped the gallery through personal stories and a wealth of never-before-seen archival and visual material.
Delve into the gallery’s history and wide-ranging projects with this invaluable resource for audiences interested in learning more about contemporary art and the Hauser & Wirth story.
Locations
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Learning
Since 2013, Hauser & Wirth Somerset has supported an immersive artist-in-residence program alongside a breadth of learning and community initiatives. Previous artists-in-residence include Rita Ackermann, Martin Creed, Allison Katz, Bharti Kher, Pipilotti Rist, Henry Taylor, Thomas J Price, Rashid Johnson and Christina Quarles. 2024 residencies included Oddur Roth, Firelei Báez, a new writer’s residency in partnership with ArtReview, a guest artist collective selected by Frances Morris responding to the work of Phyllida Barlow.
Hauser & Wirth is committed to inclusive learning programs that create a dialogue between art, artists and diverse audiences. Ongoing global projects are centered on three core pillars: to engage with communities; enrich academic courses; and foster better access to art careers through a series of meaningful partnerships. In 2024, the gallery partnered with 22 non-profits and collaborated with a further 64 charities and organizations, resulting in over 170,000 people globally experiencing an element of the learning program. We ran over 1000 tours and events in 10 locations, welcoming 10,521 learners from schools and universities.
Hauser & Wirth’s Education Lab initiative is located in Menorca, Somerset and Downtown Los Angeles, as well as at Chillida Leku, and each Education Lab is a collaboration with a local community group, school or university. The interactive spaces have been inspired by and developed alongside the gallery’s international artists, facilitating a platform for discovery, discussion and additional resources. In 2025, the Education Labs will take their starting point from artists Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle in Somerset, Cindy Sherman and Mika Rottenberg in Menorca, Eduardo Chillida in San Sebastian and Henry Taylor in Los Angeles.
Hauser & Wirth Publishers
Since its founding in 1992, Hauser & Wirth Publishers has grown into a dynamic imprint that produces more than 20 titles per year, with a special focus on artists’ archives and writings. It creates unique, object-like books that encourage an understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art, with a backlist also comprising monographs, artists’ books, publications focused on important private collections, and exhibition catalogues – often bringing new and overlooked aspects of an artist’s creative practice into focus. By commissioning original, in-depth scholarship to give thoughtful insight, Hauser & Wirth Publishers aims to craft accessible, lasting records of artists’ work, ideas, and exhibitions.
In 2019, Hauser & Wirth Publishers opened a stand-alone global headquarters and flagship bookshop in the historic center of Zurich, Switzerland, which operates alongside a parallel enterprise in New York. The Zurich headquarters occupies the former home of the Oprecht & Helbling bookshop and the legendary Europa Verlag publishing house. Today it serves as an international hub for research and scholarship, led by Chief Editor Dr. Michaela Unterdörfer, who has helmed Hauser & Wirth Publishers since 2005.