Skulptur Projekte Münster (English: Sculpture Projects Münster) is an exhibition of sculptures in public places in the city of Münster (Germany). Held every ten years since 1977, the exhibition shows works of invited international artists for free in different locations all over town, thereby confronting art with public places. After every exhibition, the city buys a few of the exhibited sculptures which are then installed permanently.

The 4th exhibition in 2007 took place from 16 June to 30 September. The fifth exhibition in 2017 took place from 10 June to 1 October.

The story of the Sculpture Projects in Münster dates back to the 1970s when George Rickey placed his kinetic sculpture, "Drei rotierende Quadrate" in the German city of Münster. At the time there was a significant public outcry against placement of the artwork. To address this dissatisfaction and to attempt to bridge understanding about art in public places, Klaus Bussmann (then director of the Westfälisches Landesmuseum in Münster) undertook a series of lectures and presentations in 1977 at the museum.

It was as an extension of this outreach program that the idea for Sculpture Projects Münster was born with Bussmann and Kasper König (curator at Museum Ludwig) as the project's founders. Although protests of the project followed in latter years, the citizens of Münster eventually came to embrace the project, and are quite proud of it today, celebrating its presence in the city, as well as understanding the economical benefit it brings to this rather small college town. Some 35 works that premiered at previous Sculpture Projects were subsequently bought by the city.^[1] The 100-day event has taken place every 10 years since 1977 and is coordinated to occur concurrent with the Documenta exhibition, which takes place in Kassel, Germany, some 200 km or 125 miles away. The curatorial committee of the Sculpture Projects rotates with each of its manifestations and is meant to highlight the best example of sculptural artworks and installations from a worldwide selection of artists. Each artist then chooses a site in the city, and conceives a work with that site firmly in mind. The most recent manifestation of the Sculpture Projects, in the summer of 2007, was co-curated by Brigitte Franzen, Kasper König, and Carina Plath. For the first time, the exhibitions extends to the industrial city of Marl in 2017.^[2]

The $650,000 (1987) cost of the show is paid by Münster, the province of Westphalia-Lippe, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and private funds. In 1997 more than 500,000 visitors came to Münster to see the work of artists from 25 countries.

For the prominent Roman Catholic city of Münster, from which busloads of citizens visit Lourdes each year, German artist Katharina Fritsch produced a yellow life-size plaster version of the Lourdes Madonna in 1987. Shortly after the piece was installed on a street near the shopping center, market and cathedral, the praying hands were smashed; shortly after it was taken to the police station, it received gifts of flowers. The work is now being made in stone.^[3]

Bruce Nauman first proposed his inverted pyramid, sunk into the ground in front of the University of Münster's Department of Nuclear Physics, for the first Münster project, in 1977. Rejected by the State Building Authority, in 2007 Nauman offered his original proposal once more for the original 1977 price.^[4]

Unlike most art exhibitions Münster Sculpture Projects does not entirely disappear at the closing date. A total of 39 works from previous Sculpture Projects remain in place, creating an argumentative walk-through history of site-specific sculpture, public art and monuments.^[6]

• 1st Sculpture Projects (1977): Untitled by Donald Judd
• 1st Sculpture Projects (1977): Square Depression by Bruce Nauman, realized in 2007
• 1st Sculpture Projects (1977): Giant Pool Balls by Claes Oldenburg
• 2nd Sculpture Projects (1987): Octagon for Münster by Dan Graham
• 2nd Sculpture Projects (1987): Bodennrelief für die chemischen Institute by Matt Mullican
• 3rd Sculpture Projects (1997): Pier by Jorge Pardo
• 3rd Sculpture Projects (1997): sanctuarium by Herman de Vries
• 3rd Sculpture Projects (1997): Look up and read the words … by Ilya Kabakov
• 4th Sculpture Projects (2007): We are still and reflective by Martin Boyce
• 4th Sculpture Projects (2007): Less sauvage than others by Rosemarie Trockel

• Hermann Arnhold, Ursula Frohne, Marianne Wagner (eds.): Public Matters. Debates and Documents from the Skulptur Projekte Archives, Walther König, Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-96098-671-3

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