Episode 47 / VOICES ON ART – The VAN HORN Gallery Podcast / Rearranging the collection – BRIGITTE KÖLLE, curator, head of collections for contemporary art at Hamburger Kunsthalle
Recorded November 18, 2021, 35 min., language englishIn this episode Brigitte Kölle, curator and head of collections of contemporary art at Hamburger Kunsthalle talks how she became first interested in art through one of her schoolmates, who went on to study art. She then took art classes herself before deciding to go into art history and cultural studies. She describes the art world of the late 1980s and 90s in detail – an impactful internship at Konrad Fischer Galerie, meeting some of the important artists of that time, before going to New York and encountering for the first time woman curators like Lynne Cook and Marsha Tucker. To once have had practical experiences in creating art enables her now to understand art on a profound level and to look deeply at it, which makes a big difference in her own exhibition making. She talks the process of curating exhibitions, working with and rearranging the collection of the Museum and the discussions and teamwork this requires. She shares some personal and private thoughts about her life as a curator, head of collections, woman and mother. In her practice art always comes first.