With the idea of making the Sammlung Schroth (Schroth Collection) accessible to the public, the need arose for a permanent art space.

In the course of negotiations with the city of Soest about the construction of a new art space in a prominent location, the need for an organisational framework for such a project arose for legal reasons. For various reasons, the founder then decided to establish the Stiftung Konzeptuelle Kunst (Foundation for Conceptual Art) and to contribute capital and part of his collection to it.

The founder deliberately did not use his name in the title of the foundation. Rather, it is intended to be open to the endowment of further works and collections seeking permanent care. Such donations must, however, fit into the context of the existing collection. In order not to restrict the spectrum of possible collections too much, “conceptual” rather than “concrete” or “constructive” was included in the foundation’s name. This leaves a certain openness for exciting marginal areas of the aforementioned fields of modern art.

Further negotiations with the city then led to cooperation on the conversion and extension of the Wilhelm Morgner municipal museum, which was completed in May 2016. Financial support for this project was provided by the Conceptual Art Foundation. A part of the museum, the Raum Schroth (Schroth room), is available to the foundation for autonomous use in the long term.

The first significant support for art and culture was already the Hellweg Konkret project from 2014 to 2016 with a total of 5 exhibitions in the Hellweg region and in Arnsberg.