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MOMENTUM DIRECTORS
RACHEL RITS-VOLLOCH, PhD – Founding Director
Dr. Rachel Rits-Volloch is a graduate of Harvard University with a BA degree in Literature and holds an M.Phil and PhD from the University of Cambridge in Film Studies. She wrote her dissertation on visceral spectatorship in contemporary cinema, focusing on the biological basis of embodiment. In 2016-2017, Rachel Rits-Volloch was Visiting Professor at the Bauhaus University, Weimar, lecturing in the MFA program “Public Art and New Artistic Strategies” and the PhD program in Artistic Research. Rachel Rits-Volloch founded MOMENTUM in 2010 in Sydney, Australia, as a parallel event to the 17th Biennale of Sydney. MOMENTUM subsequently moved to Berlin’s iconic Kunstquartier Bethanien Art Center in January 2011, with an on-going program supporting its mission as a non-profit platform for Time-Based Art. As the Founding Director of MOMENTUM, Rachel-Rits Volloch has curated and produced over 250 exhibitions, artist residencies, education events, and a diversity of related programming worldwide, showing close to 700 artists, since MOMENTUM’s inception in May 2010. Born in Riga, USSR, Rachel Rits-Volloch is currently based in Berlin, having previously lived and worked in the US, UK, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Istanbul, and Sydney.
EMILIO RAPANÀ – Co-Director
Emilio Rapanà holds undergraduate and Masters degrees in Architecture from the Politecnico di Milano. After one year in the Erasmus program at the Faculty of Architecture, Oporto University (FAUP), Rapanà moved to Rio de Janeiro to continue his studies at the Federal University, Faculty of Civil Engineering (UFRJ). In Brasil, Rapanà worked at MPU, Metrópolis Projectos Urbános, one of the leading architecture and urban design offices focusing on complex and multi-disciplinary development projects in Rio’s favelas. Rapanà earned his Masters degree in Milan in 2010 with a thesis titled “Project for the growth of a favela. A flexible housing unit in Cidade de Deus, Rio de Janeiro“. Rapanà has worked at MOMENTUM since early 2013, building up his position to Head of Operations & Design, and as Co-Director since 2016. In his 10-year tenure at MOMENTUM he has overseen many international contemporary art projects, working closely with renowed artists, curators, galleries, museums and foundations. Concurrently Emilio Rapanà sits on th Board of Peninsula, the association of Italian artists and curators based in Berlin. Emilio Rapanà lives and works in Berlin.
MOMENTUM Advisory Board
Cassandra Bird
Cassandra Bird was Co-Director of MOMENTUM for its first two years in Berlin, in 2011-2013. She subsequently returned to Sydney to become the Director of Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery. She is also the owner of von Bertouch Galleries in Newcastle, Australia, which was in her family for 50 years. Previoulsy, Cassandra ran the broadcast design and animation team for two years, after working for five years as a designer for two television networks in Australia. She then went abroad to gain gallery experience with contemporary art, working at Venetia Kapernekas Gallery in New York, Johnen Galerie in Berlin, and DUVE Berlin. Cassandra has written for many art publications, both online and in print, in addition to acting as an independent art advisor connecting artists and clients internationally. Cassandra Bird holds an M.A. in Curatorship and Arts Administration from the University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts (COFA) and graduated from Charles Sturt University with a B.A. in Theatre & Media and a double diploma in Business, marketing and advertising.
Thomas Eller
Thomas Eller (born 8 September 1964) is a German visual artist and writer. Born and raised in the German district of Franconia he left Nürnberg in 1985 to study fine art at the Berlin University of the Arts. After his forced expulsion he studied sciences of religion, philosophy and art history at Free University of Berlin. During this time he was also working as a scientific assistant at the Science Center Berlin for Social Research (WZB). From 1990 he exhibited extensively in European museums and galleries. In 1995 he obtained his greencard and moved to New York. Next he participated in exhibitions in museums and galleries in the Americas, Asia and Europe. In 2004 he moved back to Germany and founded an online arts magazine on the internet platform artnet. As managing director he developed the Chinese business team and was instituting several cooperations e.g. with Art Basel and the Federal German Gallery Association (BVDG). In 2008 he became artistic director of Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin. In 2013, Thomas Eller became the co-publisher of Randian China, an online magazine of art criticism focusing on Chinese contemporary art. He is the co-curator of the exhibition The 8 of Paths: Art in Beijing (2014, Berlin).
David Elliott
David Elliott is an English born curator, writer, art historian, and museum director. He was Director of the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, England (1976-1996); Director of Moderna Museet [The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art] in Stockholm, Sweden (1996-2001), founding Director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo (2001-2006); the first Director of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art [Istanbul Modern] (2007); senior curator and vice-director of the Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art in Guangzhou, China (2015-2019). David Elliott was Artistic Director of the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2008–2010); Artistic Director of the 1st Kiev International Biennale of Contemporary Art (2011-2012); Artistic Director of the 4th International Biennale of Work by Young Artists in Moscow (2014-2014). He was the Rudolf Arnheim Guest Professor in Art History at the Humboldt University, Berlin (2008), and Visiting Professor in Museum Studies at the Chinese University in Hong Kong (2008/11/13). He was President of CIMAM (the International Committee of ICOM for Museums of Modern Art (1998-2004); Honorary President of the Board of Triangle Art Network in London (2010-2016); on the Asia Advisory Board of the Guggenheim Museum in New York; on the jury of Kulturakademie Tarabya in Istanbul (2011-2017); currently he is the Chairman of Judges of the Sovereign Asian Arts Prize, and the Chairman of the Advisory Board of MOMENTUM (2010-Present). Amongst numerous publications, “Art & Trousers: Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Asian Art” a major anthology of his writings, was published in 2021.
Jeni Fulton
Jeni Fulton is the Executive Editor for Content & Communications at Art Basel. Prior to this, she was Editor-in-Chief of Sleek Magazine, a Berlin-based print publication covering all aspects of contemporary visual culture. She obtained an M.A. (Hons) in philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and is completed her PhD Thesis on “Value and Evaluation in Contemporary Art” at the Faculty for Cultural Theory at the Humboldt University, Berlin, and the Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung Berlin. Her PhD thesis examines how different systems of art evaluation (economic, symbolic and institutional) interact in the field of contemporary art to create a concept of contemporary artistic value. She is bilingual in German and English and is fluent in French.
Erika Hoffmann-Koenige
Erika Hoffmann-Koenige is the Founding Director of the Sammlung Hoffmann, a private collection of contemporary art open to the public. She studied art history in Freiburg, Vienna and Bonn from 1958 to 1963, including a placement at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne. From 1968 to 1988 she was in charge of the womens’ collection Lady von Laack in her husband’s, Rolf Hoffmann’s, clothing company van Laack. In 1979 she produced a collection of Constructivist clothing after designs by Popova, Stepanova, Exter, Rodchenko and others. The collection was shown in Galerie Gmurzynska in Cologne in 1979, and then toured to numerous museums in the US, Moscow and Tokyo. In 1984, she created and produced the exhibition 50 Kleider, utilising the designs of fifty contemporary artists on the occasion of Rolf Hoffmann’s 50th birthday. The exhibition was shown in the Altes Museum Mönchengladbach. Between 1988 and 1991, following the sale of the company, she curated the exhibition Buchstäblich – Bild und Wort in der Kunst heute for the Von der Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal. During this period, she and her husband developed a plan for a Kunsthalle in Dresden after a design by Frank Stella, which, however, was not realised. In 1994 the couple purchased and restored a former factory in Berlin-Mitte, creating the complex known today as the Sophie-Gips-Höfe. The building is a home in addition to housing their art collection, and its rotating exhibitions are open to the public on Saturdays. In 2009, the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau in Dresden exhibited Mit dem Fahrrad zur Milchstraße, an exhibition drawn from the Hoffmann collection. It was curated by Erika Hoffmann-Koenige in conjunction with Ulrich Bischoff and Mathias Wagner. Erika Hoffmann is also a member of the Neue Nationalgalerie advisory board.
Mirkku Kullberg
Mirkku Kullberg is the CEO of the studio, incubator and consultancy, Glasshouse Helsinki. Mirkku Kullberg is known as a visionary leader and design executive with a strong track record in branding and turnaround management. Kullberg inspires audiences around the world by speaking about the future of retail and changing consumer lifestyles. Also, Kullberg interprets interestingly the blurring lines between home, work and office. Finnish born, internationally seasoned and educated Kullberg speaks 4 languages. She was Strategic Marketing Director of Kämp Collection Hotels, and served as the Head of Vitra Home at Vitra International AG from 2014 to December 2015 in Birsfelden, Switzerland. Prior to Vitra, Kullberg was the CEO of Finnish design icon Artek. Previously Kullberg has revamped Finnish design icons such as Artek, Nanso and Grunstein. During Kullberg’s two decades in fashion industry Kullberg’s projects have expanded the boundaries between art, design, media and technology. Kullberg splits her time in Berlin and Helsinki. In her free time she collects art her photographer husband and restores charming dwellings in the Nordic archipelago.
Li Zhenhua
Li Zhenhua has been active in the artistic field since 1996, his practice mainly concerning curation, art creation, and project management. Since 2010 he has been the nominator for the Summer Academy at the Zentrum Paul Klee Bern (Switzerland), as well as for The Prix Pictet (Switzerland). He is a member of the international advisory board for the exhibition “Digital Revolution” at the Barbican Centre in the UK in 2014. Since 2000 focused on curating and dialog with filmmakers and documentary filmmakers from China, since 2004 involved in CIFF. 2015 producer of JU Anqi’s film Poet on a Business trip. 2010 curated Heat: ZHANG Yuan solo show in Nanjing, China. 2007 producer of SHEN Shaomin’s documentary film I am Chinese. Since 2003 worked as a jury in the film and arts field, such as Shorti (Span 2003), Napolis Film festival (Italy 2006), Transmediale 2010 (Berlin, Germany 2009), CCAA (Beijing, China 2012), CIFF (Nanjing, China 2012), Fantoche (Switzerland 2012), Art Award China (Beijing, China 2015-2016), 2021 KCC UK X Germany Open Call (Germany & UK 2021), DAAD: Fellows of the Berlin Artists-in-Residence Programme 2022(Germany 2021). Li Zhenhua has edited several artists’ publications, including Yan Lei: What I Like to Do (Documenta13, 2012), Hu Jieming: One Hundred Years in One Minute (2010), Feng Mengbo: Journey to the West (2010), and Yang Fudong: Dawn Mist, Separation Faith (2009). A collection of his art reviews has been published under the title Text in 2013.
Elizabeth Markevitch
Elizabeth Markevitch is an art professional and the founder of ikono, an international platform of display and broadcasting visual arts. Markevitch started her career in the early eighties as assistant fashion editor for Vogue Hommes and has since served many roles in the art industry: head of the Art Fund, Artemis; head and founder of the art advisory department of J. Henry Schröder Bank; Senior Manager of the painting’s department at Sotheby’s. Markevitch works as an art consultant and has collaborated and curated a wide variety of special art events. Her passion for exploring new ways to impart and display art while making it accessible to a wider audience became manifest in 1998, when she co-founded the online gallery eyestorm; projects such as „46664 – 1 Minute of Art to Aids“ in 2003 have since followed. Through the 2006 founding of ikono, a collaboration between art historians, curators and cameramen, with artists and art institutions, Markevitch’s vision of building a visual bridge to the arts was realized: The whole world of art is brought to the homes of an international public, reached through the HDTV channels ikonoMENASA and ikonoTV as well as through the web portal www.ikono.org, which reaches 35 million households daily in Germany, Italy and 27 countries across Europe and bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
Christopher Moore
Christopher Moore is the publisher of randian 燃点 digital art magazine. From 2008-10 Christopher was the Shanghai correspondent for Saatchi Online. In 2012 Chris co-curated “Forbidden Castle” at Muzeum Montanelli in Prague, an exhibition of Xu Zhen’s pre-MadeIn work, and in April 2014 he curated Yan Pijie “Children of God” at orangelab Berlin. He is also the editor of the first monograph on Xu Zhen, to be published by Distanz Verlag this Spring, with contributions by David Elliott, Philippe Pirotte and Li Zhenhua.
Dr. Irina Nikolic de Jacinto
Dr. Irina A. Nikolic (Nikolic de Jacinto) is a global health diplomat and international development expert, with a long-standing interest in contemporary art. In 2010, Irina joined the World Bank Group, where she is a senior official working on global health matters, strategy and organizational change initiatives. Previously, Irina Nikolic de Jacinto was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, where she advised leading global organizations on strategy and performance, and led engagements in global health, economic development, and opportunity creation in the firm’s Social Sector Office. Irina has advised and worked on a number of recent global initiatives and partnerships, such as the Lancet’s Global Health 2035, the UN Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child, and global health networks for universal health coverage. She has written extensively on strategy, global health, women’s empowerment, and development issues, including: “Chronic Emergency: Why Non-communicable Diseases Matter”, “The Business of Empowering Women”, “How Helping Women Helps Business”, and “Rethinking How Companies Address Social Issues”. She has also worked on promoting international collaboration in health and education, and has led a health-focused foundation in New York. Dr. Nikolic de Jacinto holds a Ph.D. and an M.Phil. in History and International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Belgrade. Born in Yugoslavia, Irina lives in Washington, D.C. and London with her family and art collection.
Dov Rubinstein
Dov Rubinstein holds a BA in Political Science from Haifa University, Israel and a BA and MA (Honours) in Law from King’s College, University of Cambridge. Dov Rubinstein began his career as a pilot in the Israel Air Force rising to the rank of Major and serving as the COO of the Squadron, he also served as an International commercial pilot at Arkia Airlines. After making a career switch to Law, he clerked at the Office of the Prosecutor at the Hague and at the prestigious Libai Law firm in Tel Aviv. He has served in several capacities at the Claims Resolution Tribunal in Switzerland, including as staff attorney, Resident Claims Judge, Deputy Secretary General and most recently as Secretary General (co-CEO), managing 80 professional staff with an annual budget of ca. CHF12M. He has founded the co-operation agreement between the two leading Institutions the Swiss Chambers Arbitration Institution (SCAI) and Israeli Center for Arbitration and Resolution (CADR) and serves as an International Arbitrator.
Ruth Ur
Ruth Ur is the Yad Vashem Director for German-speaking Countries. Previously she was Director of Partnerships Europe at the British Council. She has worked internationally for over 15 years with postings to Germany and, as British cultural attaché, to Turkey and Israel. Ruth was Curator of the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2002) and has been responsible for several artist commissions, including a series of public art works across Turkey by major European artists such as Clemens von Wedemeyer and Mark Wallinger. Ruth headed the British Council’s Culture and Development programme (2010 – 13). With a particular interest in the intersection of culture and politics, Ruth was responsible for developing the British Council’s new cultural strategy in the Middle East and North Africa during the Arab Spring, initiated a new cultural programme in South Sudan and was part of the team that established cultural exchange between the UK and North Korea in 2014. Ruth grew up in London, has a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MA from the Courtauld Institute in Art History. She divides her time between Berlin, London and Alsace.