It took just six months as an art student for me to realize that I was not an artist, nor was
I becoming one. But that only made me all the more interested in why artists are artists.
What makes some abandon a career as an artist, and why are others driven to create
artistic work? I felt impelled to find out more about all of this, so I studied History of Art.
Ever since then I have been fascinated by the freedom and unconditionality of modern
and contemporary art. I have therefore pursued my vocation as an art historian with
something of the same urgency and uncompromising determination that is seen in artists
and their works. Working in proximity to artistic creativity is a constant source of
inspiration for my work; it allows me to discover, to take in, and to analyze what artists
do, what their works mean, and how other people are enthused by them.
Since gaining my doctorate in art history on the topic of floor sculptures in the twentieth
century, I have gained over twenty-five years of professional experience in public and
private art institutions and as a freelance curator and author. My career began at the
Krefelder Kunstmuseen and at the Mies van der Rohe villas used for exhibitions in
Krefeld, Haus Lange and Haus Esters (artist’s:books; Carl Andre, etc.). I then spent
several years, still in the 1990s, as director of Kunsthalle Nürnberg, a municipal art
centre (Ein Stück vom Himmel; Peter Doig; Jason Rhoades; Lawrence Weiner, etc.). In
1999 I took up an appointment in Switzerland as director of two major private collections
(Paul McCarthy; The Oldest Possible Memory, etc.). Following that I spent some years as
Senior Curator at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (Nach
Kippenberger; Lucy McKenzie; EindhovenIstanbul, etc.). In 2006 I moved back to
Germany; since then I have realized major exhibitions and publication projects at home
and abroad (including Allan Kaprow; Andy Warhol; catalogue raisonné for Zvi Goldstein;
Blicke! Körper! Sensationen!). In 2011 I relocated my office, cakesmeyer, to Berlin, where I have run it ever since with my associate curator Johannes Schmidt.
