ZURICH.- The Kunsthaus Zürich has appointed two new curators to succeed Tobia Bezzola and Bice Curiger. Oliver Wick and Cathérine Hug led the field after a lengthy selection process. They will join the curatorial team in summer 2013.

The Kunsthaus Zürich is reshaping and expanding its team of curators. Tobia Bezzola, who moved to a new post as Director of the Museum Folkwang in Essen on 1 January, is replaced by freelance curator Oliver Wick.

OLIVER WICK
Oliver Wick, lic. phil., is 51 years old and has been curator at large at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen since 2003. He worked closely with Ernst Beyeler, and has probably the most extensive international network of any Swiss exhibition organizer. Wick has curated a number of highly regarded major exhibitions including ‘Brancusi/Serra,’ ‘Visual Encounters’ – art from Oceania and Africa in dialogue with Modernism – ‘Mark Rothko’ and ‘Calder/Miró.’ He has also been involved in projects outside Switzerland – with museums in Rome, Munich, Hamburg and the Guggenheim Bilbao. He previously worked at the Swiss Institute for Art Research and the Kunstmuseum Basel. Oliver Wick speaks four languages. He takes up his position on a full-time basis on 1 June 2013.

CATHERINE HUG
Bice Curiger, who retires in summer 2013, is replaced by Cathérine Hug, lic. phil. Now aged 36, Cathérine Hug started out as a curatorial assistant at the Kunsthaus ten years ago; she worked on Art Basel and, in 2008, became curator of the Kunsthalle Wien. She is currently part of a team working on the festival ‘WWTBD – What Would Thomas Bernhard Do’ and the exhibition ‘Salon der Angst.’ Originally from western Switzerland, she is an expert on contemporary art; but she also has a passion and a flair for classical projects. One of Hug’s first tasks will be a major presentation on Delaunay. Her work as a board member of the Burgauer Foundation has already cemented her reputation both at the Kunsthaus and beyond. Cathérine Hug speaks three languages fluently. She takes up her position at the Kunsthaus Zürich, which has been expanded from 60% to 100%, on 16 September 2013.

THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS
One of the positions was filled via a selection committee while the second was advertised. More than a dozen candidates from Switzerland and abroad were invited to attend interviews, and the management and board of the Kunsthaus voted unanimously for the two Swiss contenders. The curatorial team, whose other members are Mirjam Varadinis and Bernhard von Waldkirch, is now once again at full strength. Further positions – including curatorial posts – will also be created between now and 2017 ahead of the opening of the Kunsthaus extension.