Micha Ullman

Micha Ullman (; born 11 October 1939) is an Israeli sculptor and professor of art.

Biography Ullman was born in Tel Aviv to German Jews who immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1933. As a teenager, he attended the Kfar HaYarok agricultural school. In 1960-1964, he studied at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. In 1965, he attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, where he learned etching.

Artistic career

Ullman created the underground “Empty Library” memorial on Bebelplatz square in Berlin, where the Nazi book burnings began in 1933. The memorial consists of a window on the surface of the plaza, under which vacant bookshelves are lit and visible. A bronze plaque bears a quote by Heinrich Heine: “Where books are burned in the end people will burn.” This memorial was inaugurated in May 1995. (see book burning). Ullman explains: "It begins with the void that exists in every pit and will not disappear. You could say that emptiness is a state, a situation formed by the sides of the pit: The deeper it is, the more sky there will be and the greater the void. In the library containing the missing books, that void is more palpable. We expect [the books] but they are not there."

Another of his creations is "Hochwasser" ("Flooding") on a small island near the Werra River in Germany. It was inspired by a boat Ullman saw there with a sign on it stating it had a capacity of up to seven passengers. Ullman's father, Yitzhak, who had lived nearby, immigrated to Palestine with his seven siblings in 1933.

Sculptural style Ullman creates subterranean sculptures, some of which barely protrude from the ground. They touch on universal themes such as the meaning of place and home, absence and emptiness. They have been described as simultaneously "celestial and earthbound, metaphysical but sensual and tactile.

1963 Sonborn Prize, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem 1972 The Beatrice S. Kolliner Award for a Young Israeli Artist, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel 1980 The Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel 1985 Mendel Pundik Prize, Tel Aviv Museum 1989 Annual Scholarship, DAAD, Berlin 1995 Käthe Kollwitz Prize, Academy of Arts, Berlin 1996 Zussman Prize, Yad Vashem 1996 Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin 1997 - פרס החברה לתרבות ולשלום בינלאומי, עמאן, ירדן. 1998 Janet and George Jarin Prize, America Israel Cultural Foundation 2000 Gamzu Prize and Aftovitzer Fund, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv 2004 Awarded Honorary Ph.D, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 2005 Hans-Thoma-Preis, Staatspreis des Landes Baden - Wurttemberg, Germany 2009 Israel Prize for Sculpture 2010 Gerhard- Altenbourg-Preis, Lindenau Museum Altenburg 2011 Moses-Mendelssohn-Preis des Landes Berlin, Germany

Outdoor and public art 1983 Sky, limestone, Tel Hai, Israel 1984 Ben Hinnom Valley, iron and cable, Jerusalem 1984 Lot's Wife, earth, Mt. Sodom, Israel 1989 Jesod (Foundation), cement and sand, Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv 1991 Schodnia (East), asphalt, Lodz, Poland 1992 Sea Level, cast iron, sandstone and glass, 22 Allenby St., Tel Aviv 1992 Niemand, corten steel and red loam, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany 1995 The Empty Library, cement and glass, Bebelplatz, Berlin, Germany 1996-1997 Water, Zion Square, West Jerusalem and Freres Street, East Jerusalem