Speakers 2012

Marc-Olivier Wahler (Neuchâtel, Svizzera, 1964) began his career as a museum curator in 1992 in Switzerland (first at the Fine Arts Museum in Lausanne and then at Mamco in Geneva). In 1995, he co-founded the CAN (Contemporary Art Center of Neuchâtel) and was its director until 2000, when he became the director of the SI (Swiss Institute – Contemporary Art) in New York (2000-2006). Between 2006 and 2012 he has been the director of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and under his leadership, the art center developed a new economic model, including the artists’ projects of a rooftop hotel and restaurant. As chief curator of the Palais de Tokyo, he set the current pace of 30 to 40 exhibitions a year, divided into three large sessions. The shows included such artists as Ugo Rondinone, Charles Ray, Adam McEwen, Urs Fischer, Jim Shaw, Tom Friedman, Cady Noland, Tatiana Trouvé, Charlotte Posenenske, Ceal Floyer, Peter Coffin, Steven Parrino, Ryan Gander, Jonathan Monk, Roman Signer, Loris Gréaud, and Christoph Büchel. During the last 15 years, Marc-Olivier Wahler has organised over 400 exhibitions.

He is currently working on creating a new type of art venue, The Chalet Society, scheduled to open in Paris and Los Angeles in 2012. Also in 2012, he is curating shows in Sao Paulo, Marrakech, Istanbul, Los Angeles, and Paris.
As an art critic, Marc-Olivier Wahler regularly writes on contemporary art and its theoretical problematic in numerous publications, both in international magazines and academic books. In addition, he was the founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine Palais / and the art dictionary From Yodelling to Quantum Physics, vol 1-5. His works on the form of the exhibition and the ways we currently speak about art are the subjects of numerous conferences.