Art Cologne have announced Daniel Hug as their next director. Hug, who will begin his new role on May 1 2008, fills the gap left by Gérard Goodrow, who parted company with the fair after it failed to keep up with the momentum of younger fairs such as London’s Frieze and Art Basel Miami Beach.
Art Cologne is the longest established fair for modern and contemporary art and Hug’s assignment is to further develop the artistic and strategic aspects of Art Cologne and to ensure close personal support for galleries and top collectors. Assisting him will be Meyer Voggenreiter and Kathrin Luz, who will be intensely involved in the fair’s conception and planning as well as in exhibitor acquisition and visitor marketing.
Hug, born in 1968, has Swiss-American dual citizenship and has lived most recently in Los Angeles. Notably, he is the grandson of the famous Hungarian constructivist and Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy. Having studied art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he curated a number of exhibitions between 1998 and 2001 in project rooms and art venues. During this period, he took part as a gallery director in events including Liste Basel, Art Forum Berlin and Art Chicago. He gained his first experience in fair organization in 2000 when he was appointed as a member of the selection committee for the Art Chicago International Art Fair and then served as a consultant for the contemporary art segment of the fair. In 2003, he opened his own gallery in Los Angeles and was influential in the development of in Art LA, playing a vital role in the acquisition of exhibiting galleries and the strategic development of the up-and-coming art fair. Undoubtedly he arrives in his new position with a wealth of close contacts – museum directors, curators and gallery directors – helped in no small part through his many years of service to the Moholy-Nagy Foundation.
