• Studied fine arts at the University of Fine Arts Münster; Meisterschüler (master student) with Timm Ulrichs; state examination; teacher in Recklinghausen from 1978 to 1982.
• Studied art history, philosophy and education at the Ruhr University Bochum with Max Imdahl, Gottfried Böhm, Bernhard Kerber from 1978 to 1981; 1990 doctorate on the artist group “junger westen”.
• In 1981, Ferdinand Ullrich became deputy director of the museums of the city of Recklinghausen; he was museum director there from 1988 to 2017 and was primarily in charge of the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen.Director of the art exhibition of the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen from 1989 to 2009.
• Since 1998 lecturer, since 2002 Honorary Professor for Art in Public Space at the University of Fine Arts Münster; 2003 to 2005 exhibition director of the Wewerka Pavilion in Münster; since 2004 director of the annual painting project of the University of Fine Arts Münster in cooperation with the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, since 2013 together with Prof. Dr. Erich Franz. Full-time Visiting Professor for Art in Public Space at the University of Fine Arts Münster from 2009 to 2010. Head of the “Golden Village” project as part of EMSCHERKUNST.2010 and RUHR.2010 – European Capital of Culture.

Thematic exhibitions and catalogues:

• German Art of the 50s
• Kunst & Kohle (Art & Coal; 2018)
• Emscherkunst (2010, 2013, 2016); Erasmus projects in Duisburg and Krakow

Monographic exhibitions and catalogues:

Jannis Kounellis, Per Kirkeby, Tadashi Kawamata, Arnulf Rainer, Heinrich Siepmann, Raffael Rheinsberg, Katsura Funakoshi, David Nash, Julio González, Henry Moore, Barry Flanagan, Marino Marini, Günther Förg, Leiko Ikemura, Bram Bogart, Timm Ulrichs, Konrad Klapheck, Magdalena Jetelová, Tatsuo Miyajima, Daniel Buren, Fabrizio Plessi

Publikations (in German)

• Publikationsliste von Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Ullrich auf der Website der Bibliothek für Kunst und Architektur in Münster

• Art in public space
• Light art
• Art and buildings
• Art and nature
• Archisculpture

• Director of the museums of the city of Recklinghausen (1988–2017)
• Speaker of the art museum RuhrKunstMuseen (2014–2017)
• Managing Director of the artists’ association Vestischer Künstlerbund
• Managing Director of the friends’ association for visual arts Förderverein für Bildende Kunst Recklinghausen e. V.
• Adviser of the art association Kunstverein Recklinghausen
• Adviser of the insurance company Barmenia Versicherungen
• Curatorial activity on contemporary art