Verena Formanek

Verena Formanek (born 1954) is an Austrian designer, exhibition and collection curator working in Vienna and Zurich. Verena Formanek graduated from the University of Applied Arts Vienna with an MA. In 1989 she came to the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna as curator for design and exhibitions. She installed the permanent collection in contexts designed by international artists such as Barbara Bloom, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd and Heimo Zoberning and became Associate Director under Peter Noever in 1993. From 1996 to 2004 she was deputy artistic director of the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland (which opened in 1997 in a new building designed by Renzo Piano) and worked closely with Ernst Beyeler. In 2002 she curated the Fondation’s Claude Monet exhibition, which featured Olafur Eliasson’s first site-specific installation. From 2006 to 2009 she was head of collections at the Design Museum – Museum für Gestaltung – in Zurich. She held research and teaching positions in Basel, Zurich and Linz and was responsible for numerous publications, including Every Thing Design (Hatje Cantz 2009), a volume designed by Irma Boom. She worked with Helmut Lang for many years and compiled his archive, which is now in the MAK, Vienna. In 2010 she joined the Culture Department of Tourism Development and Investment Company as Senior Project Manager for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry and soon to open; she held the same position in the museum department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism until 2016. Most recently she curated #mebody in Boisbuchet, France.