Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/380083
84 CULTURED Unlike most curators of major visual-arts institutions, Costa Rica-born Jens Hoffmann trained as a theater director, staging shows across Germany before transitioning into a curatorial role at Performance Space 122 in New York. With stints as director of exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and director at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, Hoffmann has become one of the most exciting curators in the industry. He was appointed to deputy director of the Jewish Museum in 2012 and has since organized a number of high-profile exhibitions for the institution. He has also co-curated biennials around the world including Lyon (2007), Istanbul (2011) and Shanghai (2012-13). JENS HOFFMANN Deputy Director, the Jewish Museum, New York "THE SÃO PAULO BIENNIAL IS GOING TO BE A HIGHLIGHT THIS FALL. Not only is it the most important large-scale exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere, but the curatorial team around Charles Esche, one of the most innovative curators today, has put together an incredible lineup of artists and programs that question the very notion of these large exhibitions." "I RECENTLY MET the young painter John Maggie, who lives and works in Detroit. His paintings and collages are based on photographs of male and female models from the 1970s that he turns into colorful and grotesque figures full of energy and humor." "A BOOK I READ RECENTLY WAS 'Art as Therapy' by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong. The book considers masterpieces of art history on their potential to have therapeutic qualities for their viewers and how they offer clues on managing the tensions and confusions of everyday life." "MY IDEAL CITY WOULD BE a place that has the energy of New York, the history of Rome, the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, the theaters of Berlin, the nightlife of Bogotá, the fashion of Paris, the museums of London and the food of Florence." PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP): ROBERT ADLER; DANICA DAKIC; JOHN MAGGIE; VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON; CARTIER; PHAIDON Louis Cartier fountain pen The Victoria and Albert Museum, London "MY DESERT ISLAND LUXURY ITEM WOULD BE, if there is electricity, my electric toothbrush; if there is none, my Cartier fountain pen to write my memoirs." El Dorado, 2006/2007 by Danica Dakic Beach Friends, 2005