KunstBewusst-Talk: Wie wird man Kunstbuch-Verleger? Walther König im Gespräch mit Michael Kohler

What's it all about?

It's not only in Cologne that the name König springs to mind when people interested in art think of the combination "art and books". But perhaps especially in the cathedral city, because this is where Walther König's bookshop and art book publishing house is based.

Walther König opened his first own store in 1969 in the middle of Cologne's bustling city center. The budget was modest, but his enthusiasm for the art scene was all the greater. König's bookshop became a meeting place for artists and collectors from all over the world, and pop stars and fashion czars shopped here. His publishing house is also an institution and a fixed address for artists who want to use the book as an experimental medium.

Michael Kohler, journalist and cultural editor of the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger", will talk to Walther König about the path from this first art bookshop, which is still extremely popular today, to the numerous branches in Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Milan, Amsterdam and Brussels, to name but a few, as well as the many years of collaboration with artists such as Gerhard Richter and Fischli/Weiss.

Who are our guests?

Walther König was born in Münster in 1939. After training as a bookseller at the Bücherstube am Dom, he set up his own business in 1969 with a focus on art literature after working in New York and elsewhere. Together with his younger brother Kasper König, he published his first of more than 4000 artists' books, which reflect the entire diversity of contemporary art. The Frankfurt Museum of Applied Arts dedicated an exhibition to this part of his work in 2022.

In addition to being awarded the Cologne Cultural Award of the Cologne Cultural Council in 2017, Walther König was awarded the ART-COLOGNE Prize in 2023 for special achievements in art education.

Michael Kohler (born 1969) is an editor in the culture section of the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" and correspondent for the art magazine "art" for North Rhine-Westphalia. As a freelance journalist, he has worked for the "Frankfurter Rundschau", the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and the "Berliner Zeitung", among others.