Hans-Ulrich Obrist

“To be honest, I think, for me, the power is always with art. The art world clearly couldn't happen without art.”

“I see a curator as a catalyst, generator and motivator - a sparring partner, accompanying the artist while they build a show, and a bridge builder, creating a bridge to the public.”

“My great inspiration has always been Studs Terkel, who is a wonderful American oral historian. He was a radio DJ at first, interviewed a lot of jazz musicians, and at some point started to interview Americans about work.”

“I think the art fair is very much a form of urbanism. I think something really happens to the cities when such a fair happens. The city becomes an exhibition; it's amazing.”

“The 21st-century curator works in a supremely globalised reality.”

“My most famous show is the 'Kitchen Show.' More famous than any gallery show or museum show I curated.”

“When I was 17, I met many artists, and it started to become this conversation with artists out of which all of my exhibitions grew.”

“For me, the making of exhibitions has always had to do with dialogue: a concentrated, in-depth, focused dialogue with artists, who keep teaching me that exhibitions should always invent new rules for the game.”

“I remember going to a monastery library when I was very young and being surrounded by ancient books. I fell in love.”

“I'm very interested in the idea of unusual museums, ones that are not necessarily contemporary art museums - more like historical collections or house museums.”

“From 1991 to 2000, I was totally nomadic. I was travelling 300 days a year and building out my research. These were a bit like my learning and migrating years, so to say.”

“To keep art stimulating, it's important to open it up to new horizons, which includes showing it in unexpected contexts.”

“I don't wake up in the morning and think about Franz Kline.”

“Mr. Koons's work has always inspired architects, which I think is very interesting. I think he is an artist who has reinvented himself so many times and reinvented so many different series.”

“I went to the studio of Fischli Weiss, and it was magical. I thought: 'This is what I want to do with my life; I want to work with artists and be useful to them.' I was magnetically attracted.”

“At a certain time, an artist needs a big retrospective. At other times, they need a more focused exhibition. It's a different story each time; it's about establishing a dialogue.”

“One of my favourite exhibitions is called 'Do It,' which I co-curated with the artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier 21 years ago.”

“My job is art curator, not artist. All I have ever wanted to do is immerse myself in art, to enjoy it, to learn about it, to write about it, to talk to others about it.”

“Most cities have a centre surrounded by suburbs, but London has numerous centres: it's the model of a twenty-first century metropolis.”

“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.”