How Hans Ulrich Obrist Became the World's Most Influential Curator

"'The others are about a specific artist or the history of curating ... [My French publisher Seuil] felt it might be of interest to do a personal book but there was never the time. At least at the beginning of lockdown, before all the Zoom calls started, there was a bit of time! The death of my mother was also an important aspect.'"

"'It created a sense of urgency that has never left me. I have an urgency to get things done.'"

"'A whole chain reaction unfolded. Through books I got more into literature, then more into art. I began to collect postcards and artworks, started an imaginary museum in my childhood bedroom.'"

Hans Ulrich Obrist serves as artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery and works as an independent writer and curator, maintaining a prolific schedule of talks, exhibitions and long-running projects spanning more than three decades. A coming-of-age memoir titled Life in Progress recounts how a childhood near-death experience created lasting urgency and propelled an appetite for meeting artists and staging shows from his kitchen to major institutions. Obrist wrote the memoir during lockdown after a French publisher suggested a personal book; his mother's death also influenced timing. A six-year-old accident led to immersion in books, collecting postcards, and imagining a childhood museum.

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