Born in Dresden in 1943, Olaf Weber had a great interest in art from an early age, but initially completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer - as was common in the GDR at the time. From 1964 to 1970 he studied architecture at what was then the Hochschule für Architektur und Baukunst Weimar (HAB). According to his own statements, a »fantastic time of aesthetic and political inspiration«. At the same time he started his first actions in public space.

In his research studies Weber dealt intensively with media theory, psychology, and semiotics as well as their application to the aesthetics of architecture. In 1973 Olaf Weber received his doctorate summa cum laude in a collective with Friedrich Rogge and Gerd Zimmermann on the subject of »Architecture as a Means of Communication«.

From 1973 to 1980 he worked as a scholarly associate in Berlin at the Bauakademie of the GDR. A phase in his life in which he had «a lot of free time« but criticised the lack of »important social conditions for the transfer of the knowledge gained into architectural practice«.

In 1980 he returned to the HAB as an aspirant. Beginning in 1984, he worked as a senior scientific assistant in the science area »Theory and History« in the architecture department. In 1983 his eyesight began to be impaired. The incurable, progressive eye disease did not prevent him from devoting himself intensively to his teaching and his research. In 1987 Olaf Weber completed his habilitation on the topic of architectural aesthetics in »The Function of Form in Architecture«.

He was active in the field of art studies since 1980: He became head of the “Art & Design Theory" working group at the HAB, and in 1983 he was accepted into the German Association of Visual Artists (VBK). He published numerous papers on design theory and gave lectures at renowned universities in Berlin, such as the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art and the Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1986 he took over the office of secretary of the International Bauhaus Colloquium.

During the fall of the Berlin Wall that Weber called »Months of Freedom«, new opportunities opened up and he intensified »his social interventions in the small but exemplary Weimar« where he became the political spokesman for Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen. He saw the chance that a branch of artistic education could return to Weimar and therefore took over the management of the »Institute for Art and Design« at the HAB in 1991 and worked on the establishment of an Art and Design faculty, which finally happened in 1993. Olaf Weber was appointed as the first professor in a scholarly field, namely aesthetics.

In his teaching and according to his own statements, Weber pursued »experimental forms of imparting knowledge«. As part of his political activities, he made numerous public appearances, gave performance lectures, made meddling comments on urban society, and was vehemently committed to pacifism. A long-lasting eye disease finally led to complete blindness in 2003.

In 2009, Olaf Weber retired, and from then on concentrated on the most important issues for him in a role as admonisher and warner: His focus was on world peace, world climate, and social justice. Among other things, he appeared as the impresario of the so-called 42nd Congress of the Absurd, which was held in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

»The boundaries of the battered ecosystems, social upheavals and military armament have been exceeded. There is only one thing that can save us: The reversal of global warming, the reversal of social cooling, and the reversal of military overheating«, said Olaf Weber in a public mailing on July 1, 2019.

On October 23, 2021, Olaf Weber lost the fight against a serious illness. »A trained architect, an indomitable rhetorician, a committed visionary, and a popular university professor stepped down. An adventurous friend of the arts and scholarship who was also able to resolve obvious contradictions in the absurd. A blind seer, a bizarre performer, a poet of the terse, a poet of the verse, a philosophical Phineus has left us behind and is now driving ahead,« said Prof. Wolfgang Kissel, Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design. »The crew of the Argo miss you and send you off on your last voyage!«

The thoughts and compassion of the members of the Faculty of Art and Design are with Olaf Weber's bereaved relatives. The funeral took place in the privacy of the family.

Translated by Daniel Thompson