Nicolaus Schafhausen

Nicolaus Schafhausen (born 1965 in Düsseldorf) is an internationally distinguished curator, director, author, and editor of numerous publications on contemporary art. Since 2012 he has been the Strategic Director of Fogo Island Arts, an initiative of the Canadian Shorefast Foundation to find alternative solutions for the revitalization of the area that is prone to emigration.^[1] Co-curator of the 6th Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art 2015, Schafhausen is also a Visiting Lecturer at HISK, Higher Institute of Fine Arts, Gent.^[2] He has curated a number of international festivals and exhibitions such as "Media City" Seoul 2010, or the "Dutch House" for the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.^[3] In 2007 and 2009 he was the curator of the German Pavilion for the 52nd and 53rd Venice Biennale, and for the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 he curated the Kosovo Pavilion.^[4]

In addition to curating innovative and experimental exhibitions, national pavilions and other ambitious curatorial projects, Schafhausen has extensive experience leading renowned institutions such as the Frankfurter Kunstverein, the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. Schafhausen was the founding Director of the European Kunsthalle, conceived as a project to examine the conditions and structures of contemporary art institutions, independent of local government mandates. Nicolaus Schafhausen is the Director of Kunsthalle Wien.^[5]

References