Hans Ulrich Obrist is a contemporary art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery

Serpentine Gallery

The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...

, London. Obrist is the author of The Interview Project, an extensive ongoing project of interviews.

Life and work

When Hans Ulrich Obrist was 23, he organized an exhibition of contemporary art in his kitchen. In 1993, he founded the Museum Robert Walser and began to run the Migrateurs program at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art dedicated to the arts of the 20th/21st centuries. It is located at 11 Avenue du Président Wilson in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.-Description:...

 where he served as a curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

 for contemporary art

Contemporary art

Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...

. In 1996 he co-curated Manifesta

Manifesta

Manifesta, the , is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale, described in 2010 by the as "stunning in its scope and uncompromisingly experimental in its approach".-Manifesta History:...

 1, the first edition of the roving European biennial of contemporary art. In the November 2009 issue of ArtReview

ArtReview

-Publication:ArtReview covers established and emerging artists in a mixture of international exhibition reviews, artist profiles, city art tours and artist commissions, including artist projects published as supplements to the regular edition of the magazine...

 magazine, Obrist was ranked number one in the publication's annual list of the art world

Art world

The art world is composed of all the people involved in the production, commission, preservation, promotion, criticism, and sale of art. Howard S. Becker describes it as "the network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things,...

's one-hundred most powerful people and that same year he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Obrist first gained art world attention in 1991, when as a student in Politics and Economics in St. Gallen, Switzerland, he mounted an exhibition in the kitchen of his apartment entitled "The Kitchen Show" It featured work by the likes of Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski is French sculptor, photographer, painter and film maker.-Life and work:Having no formal art education, he began painting in 1958. Nevertheless, he first came to public attention in 1960 with few short films and publication of several notebooks...

 and Peter Fischli & David Weiss

Peter Fischli & David Weiss

Peter Fischli and David Weiss , often shortened to Fischli/Weiss, are an artist duo that have been collaborating since 1979. They are among the most renowned contemporary artists of Switzerland...

. Obrist is an advocate and archivist for artists, and has said "I really do think artists are the most important people on the planet, and if what I do is a utility and helps them, then that makes me happy. I want to be helpful." Obrist is known for his lively pace and emphasis on inclusion in all cultural activities.

While maintaining official curatorial positions, he is also the co-founder of the Brutally Early Club, a discussion group open to all that meets at Starbucks in London, Berlin, New York and Paris at 6:30 a.m., and is a contributing editor of 032c

032c

032c magazine is an English-language, bi-annual contemporary culture magazine that covers art, fashion, and politics. The magazine is published in Berlin....

 magazine, Abitare Magazine, Artforum

Artforum

Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...

 and Paradis Magazine. Hans-Ulrich Obrist has lectured internationally at academic and art institutions including European Graduate School

European Graduate School

The European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...

 in Saas-Fee

Saas-Fee

Saas-Fee is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland...

, University of East Anglia

University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...

, Southbank Centre, Institute of Historical Research

Institute of Historical Research

The Institute of Historical Research is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate House. The Institute was founded in 1921 by A. F...

, and Architectural Association. He currently lives near Zurich and travels to London frequently.

The Interview project

Obrist's interest in interviews was first triggered by two very long conversations that he read when he was a student. One was between Pierre Cabanne and Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...

, and the other between David Sylvester

David Sylvester

Anthony David Bernard Sylvester CBE, was a British art critic and curator. Although he received no formal education in the arts, during his long career he was influential in promoting modern artists, in particular the work of Joan Miró, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.Born into a well connected...

 and Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...

. "These books somehow brought me to art," he has said. "They were like oxygen, and were the first time that the idea of an interview with an artist as a medium became of interest to me. They also sparked my interest in the idea of sustained conversations—of interviews recorded over a period of time, perhaps over the course of many years; the Bacon/Sylvester interviews took place over three long sessions, for example."

So far, nearly 2000 hours of interviews have been recorded. This fascinating archive is referred to by Obrist as “an endless conversation”. He began publishing these interviews in Artforum in 1996 and in 2003 eleven of these interviews were released as Interviews Volume 1. Volume 2 was published in Summer 2010. With the release, a total of 69 artists, architects, writers, film-makers, scientists, philosophers, musicians and performers share their unique experiences and frank insights.

The longer interviews in Obrist's archive are being published singly in ongoing series of books entitled "The Conversation Series". Thus far, 17 books have been published, each containing a lengthy interview with cultural figures including John Baldessari

John Baldessari

John Anthony Baldessari is an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lives and works in Santa Monica and Venice, California...

, Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...

, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, born in 1965 in Strasbourg, is a French artist working with video and installations. Gonzalez-Foerster lives and works in Paris and Rio de Janeiro. She won the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2002.-Exhibitions:...

, Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

, Robert Crumb

Robert Crumb

Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...

 and Rem Koolhaas

Rem Koolhaas

Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...

. A number of Hans Ulrich Obrist's interviews have also appeared in the Berlin culture magazine 032c

032c

032c magazine is an English-language, bi-annual contemporary culture magazine that covers art, fashion, and politics. The magazine is published in Berlin....

, including those with artists Elaine Sturtevant

Elaine Sturtevant

Elaine Sturtevant, an American artist born 1930 in Lakewood, Ohio, has achieved recognition for her works that consist entirely of copies of other artists' works.Sturtevant turns the concept of originality on its head...

 and Richard Hamilton

Richard Hamilton (artist)

Richard William Hamilton, CH was a British painter and collage artist. His 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, is considered by critics and historians to be one of the...

, historian Eric Hobsbawm

Eric Hobsbawm

Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...

, and structural engineer Cecil Balmond

Cecil Balmond

Cecil Balmond is a Sri Lankan/British designer, engineer, artist, architect, and writer. He has been hailed as "one of the most important forces in contemporary architecture today," and in 2003 received the prestigious RIBA Charles Jencks award for Theory in Practice. He is also the recipient of...

 of Arup

Arup

Arup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...

.

Curatorial activities

Obrist has an abiding fascination with the history of art institutions and curatorial practice. In his early 20s he began to research the topic. "At a certain moment, when I started doing my own shows, I felt it would be really interesting to know what is the history of my profession. I realized that there was no book, which was kind of a shock." He has since helped to rectify this gap with exhibitions on curating and a book entitled A Brief History of Curating. This volume, which is part of Obrist's Interviews project (see below) compiles interviews from some of the leading curators of the 20th century.

In keeping with his desire to explore the world of art and view at an open system, Obrist has long advocated a participatory model for his activities. One early project, 1997's "do it", is an ongoing exhibition that consists of instructions set out by artists for anyone to follow. In his introduction to the project, Obrist notes that "do it stems from an open exhibition model, and exhibition in progress. Individual instructions can open empty spaces for occupation and invoke possibilities for the interpretations and rephrasing of artworks in a totally free manner. do it effects interpretations based on location, and calls for a dovetailing of local structures with the artworks themselves. The diverse cities in which do it takes place actively construct the artwork context and endow it with their individual marks or distinctions."(sic)

In 2007, Hans Ulrich co-curated Il Tempo del Postino with Philippe Parreno for the Manchester International Festival, also presented at Art Basel, 2009, organised by Fondation Beyeler and Theater Basel. In the same year, the Van Alen Institute awarded him the New York Prize Senior Fellowship for 2007-2008. In 2008 he curated Everstill at the Lorca House in Granada.

More recently, Obrist he has initiated a series of "marathons". The Marathon series of public events was conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist in Stuttgart in 2005. The first in the Serpentine series, the Interview Marathon in 2006, involved interviews with leading figures in contemporary culture over 24 hours, conducted by Obrist and architect Rem Koolhaas. This was followed by the Experiment Marathon, conceived by Obrist and artist Olafur Eliasson in 2007, which included 50 experiments by speakers across both arts and science, including Peter Cook

Peter Cook

Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...

, Neil Turok

Neil Turok

Neil Geoffrey Turok is the Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is the son of Mary and Ben Turok, activists in the anti-apartheid movement and the African National Congress.-Career:...

, Kim Gordon

Kim Gordon

Kim Althea Gordon is an American musician, vocalist, artist, record producer, video director and actress. She has sung and played bass and guitar in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, and in Free Kitten with Julia Cafritz...

, Simon Forti, Fia Bäckstrom and Joseph Grigely. There was also the Manifesto Marathon in 2008 and the Poetry Marathon in 2009, which consisted of poems read aloud by artists and writers including Gilbert & George, Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin

Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....

, Nick Laird

Nick Laird

Nicholas 'Nick' Laird is a novelist and poet who was born, and grew up, in Cookstown, County Tyrone. He studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he attained a first in English. He went on to work at the global law firm Allen & Overy in London for six years, before leaving to concentrate...

, Geoffrey Hill

Geoffrey Hill

Geoffrey Hill is an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to be among the most distinguished poets of his generation...

, and James Fenton

James Fenton

James Martin Fenton is an English poet, journalist and literary critic. He is a former Oxford Professor of Poetry.-Life and career:...

.

Quotes

"I think great artists always change what we expect from art. And then there is the famous "étonnez-moi". In the conversation with Cocteau and Diaghilev and the Ballets russes which was a great moment where art met theatre, and there was this famous explanation, and they said "étonnez-moi!" ["Astonish me!"]."

Exhibitions curated

2009

• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno, Il Tempo Del Postino. Theater Basel, Basel, June 10–12, 2009.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Kathryn Rattee, Rebecca Warren. Serpentine Gallery, London, March 10-April 19, 2009.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones, Jeff Koons: Popeye Series. Serpentine Gallery, London, July 2-September 13, 2009.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones and Sophie O'Brien, in association with Rebecca Morrill, Gustav Metzger Decades: 1959-2009. Serpentine Gallery, London, September 29-November 8, 2009.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Marina Abramovic, and Maria Belshaw, Marina Abramovic Presents. The Whitworth Art Gallery at the University of Manchester, Manchester, July 3-July 19, 2009.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Gallery Poetry Marathon. The Serpentine Gallery, London, October 17 and 18, 2009.

2008

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lu Chunsheng: The materialists are all asleep. Red Mansion Foundation, London, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Richard Prince, Richard Prince: Continuation. Serpentine Gallery, London, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Gunnar B. Kvaran, China Power Station, Part III. Serpentine Gallery, London, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Sally Tallant, and Nicola Lees, Serpentine Gallery Manifesto Marathon 2008. Serpentine Gallery, London, October 18–19, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Olafur Eliasson, et. al., Experiment Marathon Reykjavik. Reyjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik. Event: May 16–18, 2008. Exhibition: May 15 – September 7, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Mizusawa Tsutomu, et al., Yokohama Triennial. Yokohama, September 13-November 30, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones, in association with Rebecca Morrill, Maria Lassnig. Serpentine Gallery, London, April 25-June 8, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Rebecca Morrill, Gerhard Richter—4900 Colours: Version II. Serpentine Gallery. London, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, Gunnar B. Kvaran, Rebecca Morrill and Leila Hasham, Indian Highway. Serpentine Gallery, London, December, 10 2008 – February 22, 2009.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Moscow on the Move. The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
  Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
  Garage Center for Contemporary Culture is an important non-profit international arts space based in Moscow founded by Daria Zhukova, which opened in 2008. Garage is dedicated to exploring and developing contemporary culture, whilst serving as a catalyst and meeting place for the city’s emerging...
  
  , Moscow, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Beatrix Ruf. Luke Fowler. Kunsthalle Zürich, August 30-November 2, 2008. Travels to Serpentine Gallery, London, May 7-June 14, 2009.

2007

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Joseph Backstein, Daniel Birnbaum, Iara Boubnova, Nicolas Bourriaud, Fulya Erdemci, Gunnar B. Kvaran, and Rosa Martínez, 2nd Moscow Biennale. Moscow, March 1- April 1, 2007.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Stéphanie Moisdon, Lyon Biennal—The 00s—the history of a decade that has not yet been named. Lyon, September 19- January 6, 2007.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Philippe Parreno, Anri Sala, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, Il Tempo del Postino. Manchester International Festival, Manchester, July 12–14, 2007.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Everstill. Casa-Museo Federico Garcia Lorca, Granada, Spain, November 11, 2007-July 20, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Gunnar B. Kvaran, and Julia Peyton-Jones, China Power Station, Part II. Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, 2007.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton Jones, Kitty Scott, and Hafthor Yngvason, Hreinn Fridfinnsson. Serpentine Gallery, London, 2007. Travels to Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, 2007-2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Kitty Scott, Matthew Barney: Drawing Restraint, Vol V, 1987-2007. Serpentine Gallery, London, September 2007-November 2007. Travels to Kunsthalle Vienna, 2008.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Kitty Scott, Paul Chan: The 7 Lights. Serpentine Gallery, London, May 15—July 1, 2007.

2006

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Gunnar B. Kvaran, China Power Station, Part 1. Battersea Power Station, London. A Serpentine Gallery project in collaboration with the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, October 8 –November 5, 2006.

2005

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Daniel Birnbaum, and Gunnar B. Kvaran, Uncertain States of America: American Art in the 3rd Millennium. Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, 2005. Travels to Musée d' Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; Serpentine Gallery, London, and Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Joseph Backstein, Daniel Birnbaum, Iara Boubnova, Nicolas Bourriaud, and Rosa Martinez, 1st Moscow Biennale. Former Lenin Museum, Moscow, January 28-February 28, 2005
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Bossé, Anne Dressen, and Angeline Scherf, I still believe in miracles, Part I. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, April 7-May 7, 2005.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Bossé, Anne Dressen, and Angeline Scherf, I still believe in miracles, Part II. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, May 19- June 19, 2005.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Doug Aitken: Ultraworld. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris and Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris, November 10 - December 31, 2005.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Water Event. Yoko Ono Horizontal Memories. Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, January 22-May 8, 2005.

2004

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nanook Cinema in 6eme Biennale de L'Art Africain Contemporain, DAK'ART 2004. Dakar, Senegal, 2004.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Philipp Misselwitz, Philipp Oswalt, and Stefan Rethfeld, Fun Palace Berlin, 200X. Palace of the Republic, Berlin, 2004.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Molly Nesbit and Rirkrit Tiravanija, Utopia Station München. Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2004.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Bossé, Angeline Scherrf, Anne Dressen, and Vivian Rehberg, Ailleurs, Ici. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris and Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris, 2004.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hou Hanru and Guo Xiaoyan, Second Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, November 18, 2004- January 15, 2006.

2003

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Does Art Bite? Work by Leon Golub. Mednarodni Graficni Likovni Center, Ljubljana, January–March, 2003.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Molly Nesbit, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, Utopia Station. La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2003.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Anri Sala, et al., Tirana Biennale 2: U-Topos. Tirana, Albania, 2003.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Arata Isozaki: Electric Labyrinth. Castello di Rivoli, Torino, 2003.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nelson Herrara Ysla, Vasif Kortun, Young Chul Lee, Gianfranco Maraniello, and Olu Oguibe, Biennale of Ceramics in Contemporary Art. Savona, Vado Ligure, Albisola Superiore, Albissola Marina, and Ligurian Riviera, Italy, 2003.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Vivian Rehberg, Camera. Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, February 7-April 20, 2003.

2002

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lynne Cooke, Chris Dercon, and Robert Fleck, ForwArt 2002. Various locations throughout Brussels, including the BBL Cultural Centre, Place Royale Konigsplein, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Royal Library of Belgium, the Palais des Beaux-Arts, and the Palais des Congrès, 2002.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Peter Weibel, Bruno Latour, Peter Galison, Dario Gamboni, Joseph Leo Koerner, and Adam Lowe, Iconoclash. ZKM, Karlsruhe, May 4- August 4, 2002.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, el aire es azul (the air is blue). Casa Museo Luis Barragán, Mexico City, México, November 2, 2002- March 3, 2003.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Bossé, and Julia Garimorth, Urgent Painting. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 2002.

2001

• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Laurence Bossé, Traversées (Crossings). Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 2001.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Gregor Podnar, Information – Misinformation. Ljubljana Graphic Biennale, Ljubljana, 2001.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Akiko Miyake, Bridge the Gap, A conference, exhibition, and gathering. Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, July 24–27, 2001.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Cedric Price: Drawings. Institute for International Visual Art, London, 2001.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Mutations: Sonic City, Rumor City. Tokyo Version. TN Probe Tokyo, 2001.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, DO IT. Museo de arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, 14 November 2001-10 February 2002.

2000

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rem Koolhaas, Stefano Boeri, and Sanford Kwinter, Mutations. Arc en reve, centre d'architecture, Bordeaux, November 24, 2000- March 25, 2003.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, City Vision/Clip City. An exhibition on large scale electronic billboards. Media_city, Seoul, 2000.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Suzanne Pagé, Béatrice Parent, et al., Voilà: le monde dans la tete. Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, June 15- October 29, 2000.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Urban Rumours. Fri-Art, Fribourg, 2000.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Bossé and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, La Ville, Le Jardin, La Mémoire. Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis, 2000.

1999

• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Barbara Vanderlinden, Laboratorium. Provinciaal Museum voor Fotografie and different locations in the city of Antwerp, June 27- October 3, 1999.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Retrace Your Steps: Remember Tomorrow. Sir John Soane's Museum, London, December 10, 1999- March 25, 2000.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Bossé and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, La Ville, Le Jardin, La Mémoire. Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis, 1999.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Laurence Bossé, Nuit Blanche—Nordic Video Tour. Organized by the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Helsinki, 1999.

1998

• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Laurence Bossé, Nuit Blanche. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, February 8- May 10, 1998.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Archipelag TV. A series of one-minute videos produced for Swedish Television as part of the exhibition Archipelag itself a series of approximately 40 exhibitions organized as part of the Cultural Capital of Europe program in Stockholm, 1998.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Bossé, and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, La Ville, Le Jardin, La Mémoire. Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis, 1998.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Kara Walker, Safety Curtain, 1998/99. museum in progress
  Museum in progress
  museum in progress is a private art association based in Vienna. The association was created in 1990 by Kathrin Messner and Josef Ortner with the aim to develop new presentation forms for contemporary art...
  
   in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera, Vienna, 1998.

1997

• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Hou Hanru, Cities on the Move. Secession, Vienna, November 26, 1997- January 18, 1998. Travels to CAPC, Bordeaux, June 5- August 30, 1998; PS 1, New York, October 18, 1998- January 10, 1999; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, January 29- April 21, 1999; Hayward Gallery, London, May 13- June 27, 1999; Bangkok with Thomas Nordanstad and Ole Scheeren, October 9–30, 1999; Kiasma Museum Helsinki, November 5- December 19, 1999.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Sarat Maharaj, and Gillian Wearing, Beck's New Contemporaries 97. Cornerhouse Manchester, May 31- July 20, 1997, Camden Arts Center, London, August 1- September 21, 1997, cca Glasgow, December 12, 1997- January 31, 1998.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, DO IT. North American tour comprising multilple venues, organized by Independent Curators International, New York, 1997–present.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Point d’ironie, A serial publication/exhibition edited/curated 1997–present:

Pilot issue: Jonas Mekas (May 1997)
1. Joseph Grigely (June 1997)
special issue: Christian Boltanski for James Lee Byars (September 1997)
2. Gilbert & George (October 1997)
3. Douglas Gordon (November 1997)
4. Marlene Streeruwitz (February 1998)
5. Annette Messager (April 1998)
6. Lawrence Weiner (May 1998)
7. Christian Boltanski (July 1998)
8. Itsuko Hasegawa & Dan Graham (September 1998)
9. Gabriel Orozco (December 1998)
10. Claude Lévêque (January 1999)
11. Hans-Peter Feldmann (March 1999)
special issue: Martin Parr (April 1999)
12. Harmony Korine (May 1998)
13. Antoinette Ohannessian & Toni Negri (July 1999)
14. Louise Bourgeois (October 1999)
special issue 2000: Frédéric Bruly Bouabré (January 2000)
15. Roni Horn (February 2000)
16. Richard Billingham (May 2000)
17. John Giorno & Ugo Rondinone (October 2000)
18. Rosmarie Trockel (December 2000)
19. Cédric Price (February 2001)
20. Ken Lum, hommage à Chen Zhen (March 2001)
21. Raymond Hains (July 2001)
22. Gilbert & George (September 2001)
23. Thomas Hirschhorn (October 2001)
24. Yona Friedman (December 2001)
special issue: Navin Rawanchaikul (January 2002)
25. Matthew Barney (June 2002)
26. Christian Boltanski (June 2002)
27. Hanne Darboven (June 2002)
28. Raqs Media Collective (June 2002)
29. Edouard Glissant (November 2002)
30. Claude Closky (June 2003)
31. Yoko Ono (December 2003)
32. Paul-Armand Gette (January 2004)
32. special issue: bis Hors série (January 2004)
33. Philippe Parreno (April 2004)
34. Michel Foucault (September 2004)
35. Yona Friedman (October 2004)
special issue: Nancy Spero (April 2005)
36. Tacita Dean (May 2005)
37. Ed Ruscha (June 2005)
38. Ryan McGuinness (January 2006)
39. Richard Prince (April 2006)
40. Damien Hirst (September 2006)
41. hommage à Raymond Hains (November 2006)
42. Tobias Buche (January 2007)
43. Hreinn Fridfinnsson (August 2007)
44. Hugues Reip & Melanie Counsell (July 2008)
45. Robert Crumb (October 2008)
46. Carlos Cruz-Diez (December 2008)
47. Koo Jeong-A (April 2009)
48. Walid Raad (July 2009)
49. Ryan McGinley (December 2009)

1996

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rosa Martínez, Viktor Misiano, Katalin Néray, and Andrew Renton, Manifesta 1. Kunsthall Rotterdam, Natural History Museum, Rotterdam, and 10 other institutions in Rotterdam, June 9- August 19, 1996.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Mückenbus: Rosemarie Trockel and Carsten Höller. Deutsches Museum Bonn, Bonn, 1996.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Peter Kogler. Deutsches Museum Bonn, Bonn, 1996.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Uccelli / Birds. Zerynthia, Paliano-Rome, 1996.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Christian Boltanski. University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, 1996.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Laurence Bossé, Life/Live. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, October 5, 1996 – January 5, 1997. Travels to Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, January 23 –April 21, 1997.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Stella Rollig, Travelling Eye. museum in progress
  Museum in progress
  museum in progress is a private art association based in Vienna. The association was created in 1990 by Kathrin Messner and Josef Ortner with the aim to develop new presentation forms for contemporary art...
  
  , Vienna, 1996.

1995

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Take me (I'm yours). Serpentine Gallery, London, March 24-April 30, 1995 and Kunsthalle Nürnberg, July 27-September 17, 1995.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Koo Jeong-a, lovely loisir. Apartment exhibition, 86 Crampton Street, London, 1995.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ernst Pöppel, Art & Brain. Akademie zum dritten Jahrtausend, Forschungzentrum Jülich, 1995.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Fabrice Hybert. University Lüneburg in collaboration with the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 1995.

1994

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Cloaca Maxima. Museum der Stadtentwässerung, Zürich, June 10 – October 30, 1994.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nano Museum. An ongoing series of exhibitions, 1994-1998 (the initial series ceased when Douglas Gordon lost the museum in a bar in Glasgow); resumed 2000-2003; resumed again, 2010.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Vital Use. museum in progress
  Museum in progress
  museum in progress is a private art association based in Vienna. The association was created in 1990 by Kathrin Messner and Josef Ortner with the aim to develop new presentation forms for contemporary art...
  
   and Der Standard, Vienna, 1994.

1993

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Cieli ad Alta Quota. Airline Project by Alighiero Boetti. museum in progress
  Museum in progress
  museum in progress is a private art association based in Vienna. The association was created in 1990 by Kathrin Messner and Josef Ortner with the aim to develop new presentation forms for contemporary art...
  
  in conjunction with Austrian Airlines, Vienna, 1993.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hotel Carlton Palace: Chambre 763. Hotel Carlton Palace, Paris, 1993.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, The Armoire Show. 80th birthday of the Armory Show 1913—1993. Presented as part of Hotel Carlton Palace: Chambre 763. Hotel Carlton Palace, Paris, 1993.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Kasper König, The Broken Mirror. Der Zerbrochene Spiegel, Kunsthalle Wien, May 26-July 25, 1993 and Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, October 14, 1993-January 2, 1994.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Kasper König, Paris-Hamburg-Frankfurt: Neue Kunst in Hamburg. Kunstverein, Hamburg, November 19, 1993- January 9, 1994.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Migrateurs. A series of exhibitions at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 1993-2003:

1. Liliana Moro (17 February-21 March 1993)
2. Eva Marisaldi (Opened 2 March 1993)
3. Douglas Gordon (7 April-9 May 1993)
4. Rirkrit Tiravanija (29 June-11 July 1993)
5. Didier Trenet (19 December 1993-30 January 1994)
6. Stephen Pippin (18 February-19 March 1994)
7. Felix Gonzalez Torres (March–April 1994)
8. Bas Jan Ader (30 March-29 May 1994)
9. Koo Jeong-A (Opened 5 May 1994)
10. Elke Krystufek (15 June-13 July 1994)
11. Christine, Irène, and Heidemarie Hohenbücher (15 October-8 November 1994)
12. Uri Tzaig (7 December 1994-8 January 1995)
13. Gabriel Orozco (8 February-19 March 1995)
14. Lucius Burckhardt & Paul-Armand Gette (1 June-9 July 1995)
15. Ugo Rondinone (14 September-1 October 1995)
16. Leni Hoffmann (5 October-5 November 1995)
17. Joseph Grigely ( 23 January-25 February 1996)
18. Jeremy Deller (5 October-17 November 1996)
19. Liza May Post (17 December 1996-5 January 1997)
20. Luce Irigaray & Siobhan Liddell (Opened 5 January 1997)
21. Mika Vainio (18 June-20 August 1997)
22. Marie Denis (3 October-2 November 1997)
23. Sarah Sze (4 December 1997-18 January 1998)
24. Manfred Pernice (27 February-5 April 1998)
25. Marie Legros (7 October-1 November 1998)
26. Rony Somek & Elliott Sharp (10 October 1998)
27. Barthélémy Toguo (13 April-30 May 1999)
28. Masami Akita – MERZBOW (9 November-6 December 1999)
29. Cédric Price (10 March-1 April 2001)
30. Lionel Esteve (July–September 2003)
1992

• Hans Ulrich Obrist and Laurence Bossé, Qui, Quoi, Où? Un regard sur l’art en Allemagne en 1992. The Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, October 22, 1992-January 17, 1993.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bice Curiger and Bernard Marcadé, Oh! cet écho! Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, September 19 – November 1, 1992.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hans-Peter Feldmann Retrospective. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 1992.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Gerhard Richter: SILS. Nietzsche House, Sils Maria, 1992.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Robert Walser Museum, Part I. Hotel Krone Gais, Appenzell, May 1992.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Christian Boltanski: Book. Stiftsbibliothek, Monastery Library, St. Gallen, 1992.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Paul-Armand Gette: Furkapas & Glacier du Rhone, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, November 13, 1992- January 17, 1993.

1991

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Kitchen Show. Schwalbenstrasse 10, St. Gallen, July–September, 1991.

Videos

• The Secret Files of Gilbert & George. Video, 35 minutes duration. Produced for the exhibition "Voilà: le monde dans la tete." Paris: Editions bdv-Artview avec le soutien de la Société des Amis du Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2000. Distributed through JRP|Ringier/BDV Bureau des videos, 2007.