Guillaume Kientz Author

Juan Muñoz (1953–2001) was born in Madrid. He spent a year studying architecture at the Polytechnic University in Madrid before deciding to flee fascist Spain for London in 1970. The periods Muñoz spent living in London and New York were particularly formative. While in London, his work was primarily performance-based, yet he progressively grew interested in a group of artists who were working to move beyond the canon of traditional sculpture. Upon moving to New York in 1981, he was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship. He also began his work in sculpture developed a friendship with the Spanish curator Carmen Giménez, who introduced Muñoz to the influential sculptor Richard Serra. Muñoz returned to Spain the following year and devoted a year to curating, during which time he organized with Giménez the exhibition Correspondences: 5 Architects, 5 Sculptors at the Palacio de las Alhajas, Madrid.

Vicente Todolí was appointed artistic director of Pirelli HangarBicocca in May 2012, where he is responsible for the program. His career in the visual arts spans more than thirty years, and includes positions as chief curator (1986–1988) and then artistic director of the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) (1988–1996), before joining the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves as its founding director in 1996 until 2002. In 2002, he was appointed director of Tate Modern by the Trustees of the Tate Gallery, where he joined full-time in March 2003 and left in June 2010. In 2015, he curated the exhibition Juan Muñoz: Double Bind & Around at HangarBicocca. He is on the advisory board of the Juan Muñoz Estate and is working in cooperation with the estate to prepare a catalogue raisonné of works by the artist.

Siri Hustvedt is the author of a book of poetry, six essay collections, seven novels, including The Blazing World and Memories of the Future, and a work of nonfiction. Hustvedt has a PhD from Columbia University in English Literature and an appointment as a lecturer in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. The Blazing World was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and won The Los Angeles Book Prize for Fiction. She has been awarded the International Gabarron Prize for Thought and Humanities, the Prix européen de l’essai from the Foundation Charles Veillon, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature, and the Princess of Asturias Award in Spain. Her work has been translated into over thirty languages. Hustvedt lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Guillaume Kientz currently serves as CEO and Director of the Hispanic Society Museum &
Library (HSM&L) and is spearheading the museum’s restoration and renovation efforts to bring
the historic institution into the present day. An accomplished Art Historian and Curator, Kientz does not have the typical background of one in this profession. Rather than focusing his efforts singularly on university studies, Kientz dedicated much time to experiencing cultural institutions firsthand, traveling the world and discovering interesting objects and cultures. His unique background has given him the perspective of the visitor, using this viewpoint to approach the curation of exhibitions through the lens of the institution’s audience, making the visitor his top priority. Kientz is a specialist in Spanish painting, and in particular the works of El Greco, Velazquez, Ribera and Goya, as well as in European Caravaggism. At the Louvre, where he served as a curator in the Department of Paintings for eight years with a focus on Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American painting, Kientz developed the revered exhibition Le Mexique au Louvre.Chefs-d’œuvre de la Nouvelle Espagne, XVII–XVIIIe in 2013, bringing Mexican masterpieces to the spotlight for the first time in the institution’s history.

Maurizio Cattelan (Italy, 1960) is one of the most prominent Italian artists in the world. Over a thirty-year long career, his works highlight the paradoxes of society and reflect on political and cultural scenarios with great depth and insight. By using iconic images and a caustic visual language, his works spark heated public debate fostering a sense of collective participation.