Artistic Director / Curators

Director of the Städelschule Art Academy and Director of the Portikus, Frankfurt am Main

Daniel Birnbaum is Director of the Städelschule Art Academy and its Portikus Gallery, both in Frankfurt am Main. He is also a member of the board of Frankfurt's Institut für Sozialforschung. A translator and commentator of books by, among others, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger, he is also the author of The Hospitality of Presence (1998.) Since 2004 he is an associate curator of Magasin 3 in Stockholm. A contributing editor of the New York-based magazine 'Artforum International,' he has published extensively on art and philosophy. He has organized some fifty exhibitions and was co-curator of "50th International Venice Biennale"(2003) and "1st Moscow Biennale"(2005.) He is also co-curator, with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Gunnar B. Kvaran, of "Uncertain States of America", which travels to many venues in Europe, Asia and the US, and of "Airs de Paris" which celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Centre Pompidou in 2007. Chronology, Birnbaum's most recent book, was published by Sternberg Press.

Artistic Director of the Vitamin Creative Space

Hu Fang was born in 1970 in China. He graduated from Chinese Literature Department of Wuhan University in 1992. He is one of the founders and has been artistic director of Vitamin Creative Space since 2002. He Lives in Guangzhou and Beijing now. As a novelist and writer, Hu Fang has published a series of novels including Shopping Utopia, Sense Training:Theory and Practice, and A Spectator. His recent publication is a collection of fictional essays called New Arcades (Survival Club, Sensation Fair, and Cool Shanshui.) His fictions, essays and art critics have appeared in major Chinese and international art/culture magazines since 1996. His curatorial practices are widely engaged in different situations within Chinese and international contexts. His curating and co-curating projects include "Through Popular Expression", "Loose", "Perfect Journey", "My Home is Your Museum", "Object System:Doing Nothing", etc. He has been a coordinating editor of "documenta 12 magazines" since 2006.

Program Director, Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Kitakyushu

Akiko Miyake, co- founder and program director of Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Kitakyushu, has organized many exhibitions since 1997. She is also a publisher/ editor/ art director for CCA artists' books series with more than 50 titles and the other publications on a wide range of contemporary practice. A selective list includes artists such as Marina Abramovic, Daniel Buren, Maurizio Cattelan, Tacita Dean, Jimmie Durham, Maria Eichhorn, Olafur Eliasson, Cerith Wyn Evans, Hamish Fulton, Liam Gillick, Huang Yong Ping, Sooja Kim, Philippe Parreno, Pipilotti Rist, Anri Sala, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lawrence Weiner and many others. Miyake also co-organizes and co-curates a series of the transdisciplinary conference “Bridge the Gap?” which was held in Kitakyushu, Milan, Chiang Mai and Shanghai since 2001.

Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, the Serpentine Gallery

Hans Ulrich Obrist was born in Zurich in May 1968. He joined the Serpentine Gallery as Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects in April 2006. Prior to this he was Curator of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris since 2000, as well as curator of museum in progress, Vienna, from 1993-2000. He has curated over 150 exhibitions internationally since 1991, including "Do It, Take Me, I'm Yours"(Serpentine Gallery), "Cities on the Move", "Live/Life", "Nuit Blanche", "1st Berlin Biennale", "Manifesta 1", and more. Recently "Uncertain States of America", "1st Moscow Triennale" and "2nd Guangzhou Biennale" (Canton China.)
In 2007, Hans Ulrich co-curated "Il Tempo del Postino" with Philippe Parreno for the Manchester International Festival.

Director, Kunsthalle Zürich

Beatrix Ruf was born in 1960, studied in Vienna, New York and Zurich. Since September 2001 she is the Director/Curator of the Kunsthalle Zürich. 2006 she was the Curator of the Tate Triennial for the Tate Britain, London. Previously, she had been Director/Curator of the Kunsthaus Glarus, and between 1994 and 1998 curator at the Kunstmuseum of the Canton of Thurgau. Since 1995 she is curator of the Ringier collection. Since 1999 Boardmember of the Schweizerische Graphische Gesellschaft (SGG), mentor for HSG St.Gallen, and member of the Art commission of Swiss Re. Since 2003 she is also Associate Editor of the publishing house JRP/Ringier. She has organized exhibitions, has written essays and published catalogues on artists such as Jenny Holzer, Marina Abramovic, Peter Land, Liam Gillick, Urs Fischer, Emmanuelle Antille, Angela Bulloch, Ugo Rondinone, Richard Prince, Keith Tyson, Elmgreen&Dragset, Monica Bonvicini, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Pierre Huyghe/Philippe Parreno: "No Ghost just a Shell", Rodney Graham, Isa Genzken, Doug Aitken, Wilhelm Sasnal, de Rijke / de Rooij, Eva Rothschild, Rebecca Warren, Carol Bove, Oliver Payne & Nick Relph, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Sean Landers, John Armleder, Catherine Sullivan, Daria Martin, Trisha Donnelly, Wade Guyton, Seth Price, Kelley Walker, Josh Smith, General Idea and many others.