Klaus Biesenbach


Klaus Biesenbach, born in Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany, is the director of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and former director of MoMA PS1 and Chief Curator at Large at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He is also the founding director of Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin and Berlin Biennale.

Life and career

Biesenbach was born in Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany, and later studied medicine.

Kunst-Werke

Biesenbach founded Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin in 1991, as well as the Berlin Biennale in 1996, and remains Founding Director of both entities. Under his artistic and executive directorship, KW and the Berlin Biennale were started as self-inventive initiatives and are now federally and state funded institutions.

MoMA career

Biesenbach joined MoMA PS1 as a curator in 1996; the museum's director Alanna Heiss had hired him part-time while allowing him to maintain his directorship in Berlin. Working with Heiss, he created the “Warm Up” outdoor summer series of live music and helped found the “Greater New York” exhibition series, which showcases emerging talent in the metropolitan area.
In addition to his work at KW and MoMA PS1, Biesenbach served as member of the international jury at the 1997 Venice Biennale and as co-curator of the 2002 Shanghai Biennale.
In 2004, Biesenbach was appointed as a curator in the MoMA's "Department of Film and Media". He was named Chief Curator of MoMA's newly formed Department of Media, in 2006, which was subsequently broadened to the Department of Media and Performance Art, in 2009, to reflect the Museum's increased focus on collecting, preserving, and exhibiting performance art. As Chief Curator of the department, Biesenbach led a range of pioneering initiatives, including the launch of a new performance art exhibition series; an ongoing series of workshops for artists and curators; acquisitions of media and performance art; and the Museum's presentation in 2010 of a major retrospective of the work of Marina Abramović, with whom he was formerly romantically involved.
In 2012, Biesenbach turned MoMA P.S. 1 into a temporary day shelter for displaced residents after Hurricane Sandy. He drafted an open letter to the then New York City Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg and fellow New Yorkers that called for help in the Rockaways, signed by celebrities including Lady Gaga, Madonna, James Franco, Gwyneth Paltrow and Patti Smith.

Director of MOCA Los Angeles

In 2018, Biesenbach was appointed director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Other academy

In 2016, Biesenbach was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Additionally, Biesenbach received International Association of Art Critics awards for the exhibitions Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present, Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out, and Fassbinder: Berlin Alexanderplatz. He also received AICA awards for co-curating the exhibitions Kenneth Anger, 100 Years, and Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective.
On October 21, 2018 he received the City of New York Proclamation of Honor for service to New York City.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions organized and co-organized by Biesenbach at MoMA
Exhibitions organized and co-organized by Biesenbach at MoMA PS1
Exhibitions organized and co-organized by Biesenbach at KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Biesenbach has organized and co-curated many solo and group exhibitions internationally, including