Formerly curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Hans Ulrich Obrist is now artistic director of London’s Serpentine Gallery. Since his first show ‘World Soup (The Kitchen Show)’ in 1991, he has curated more than 300 exhibitions. Obrist lectures internationally and is a contributing editor and author of several art publications and books including, most recently, The Last Days of the Opera (£35, SKIRA Editore). In 2011 he received the CCS Bard Award for Curatorial Excellence and in 2015 he was awarded the International Folkwang Prize for his commitment to the arts.
I’m currently listening to Arca (Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez), a radical experimental Venezualan musician and producer [2021 album Kick IIII, pictured] who I met through Björk about 15 years ago.
My life-changing album is The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie. It made me think about manifesting and how that can coexist with society.
What's everyone reading?
I’m obsessed with Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval abbess who was a writer, composer, mystic and healer. Her music sounds so contemporary.
The book that influenced me the most is Sartorius by Edouard Glissant. I was in
my twenties when I read it and I met him in the 1990s. It’s fascinating because it’s about identity being relational and Utopia.
My favourite films are by Agnès Varda. She was a friend and we collaborated on many projects. As a teenager in Paris, I was deeply inspired by her masterpiece Cléo de 5 à 7 – one of the most wonderful experimental films ever made.
I’m currently watching Decision to Leave by Korean director Park Chan-wook. Truly one of 2022’s most fascinating films.
My best-loved quote is ‘Art is the highest form of hope’ by Gerhard Richter.
If I had to choose favourite works of art they would be drawings by my partner, the Korean artist Koo Jeong A.
My favourite gallery is Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, where I curated a show in 2000. There is an intimacy about house museums. It’s why I love working at the Serpentine, which is a former tea house.
The best exhibition I’ve ever seen was ‘Der Hang zum Gesamtkunstwerk’, curated by Harald Szeemann. I went about 40 times as a teenager and have kept the catalogue with me in every city I’ve lived in.
If I won the lottery I would found a new Black Mountain College. It’s the amazing interdisciplinary school where John Cage and Albert Einstein taught.
The best hotel in the world is Waldhaus Sils, high in Sils Maria in Switzerland’s Engadine valley. I always have ideas there. I’m not alone; Gerhard Richter and Alexander Kluge also go there to think, work and write.
My favourite place in the world is Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Canada. I just think it’s such a beautiful name. It’s a bit of a joke, I’ve never been there but I want to one day.
