Christoph Doswald (born 1961) is a Swiss publicist, curator und university lecturer.
Life and work
Doswald spent his childhood and youth in
Wettingen and his birthplace,
Baden. From 1981 to 1989, he studied history, art history and political science at the
University of Zurich, interrupted by relatively long stays in Spain and Latin America.[citation needed]
In 1998, together with Monica Glisenti, he conceived the cross-culture magazine "cashual" for the publisher
Ringier. This monthly magazine combined artistic and journalistic strategies, e.g. hiring
Nan Goldin as a photojournalist and
Pipilotti Rist as a model, but was already discontinued after just six issues. From 2002 to 2008, Doswald headed the Society section of the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung.[6]
Together with Paolo Bianchi in 1985/86, Doswald managed a space for ephemeral art projects in their shared flat in Baden – an artist-run space "avant la lettre". In this informal setting, they exhibited the works of befriended artists and organised performances. From 1988 to 1992, Doswald was a member of the board (and chairman on an interim basis) at Zurich's Shedhalle, where curator Harm Lux ran an ambitious exhibition programme, e.g. with projects by Jordi Colomer,
Francesca Woodman,
Christian Marclay,
Sylvie Fleury, Christopher Williams,
Pipilotti Rist,
Thomas Hirschhorn and
Daniele Buetti.[citation needed]
In parallel, from the mid-1980s onwards, Doswald curated exhibitions, e.g. at
Kunsthaus Graz, Villa Arson in
Nice,
Kunstmuseum Bern, Centre Pasquart Biel and the
Academy of Arts in Berlin. From 2001 to 2007, he was a member of the "Comité technique", the purchasing committee at Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain (FRAC PACA) in Marseille,[7] where he realised various exhibitions, e.g. with
Ugo Rondinone and Maria Marshall.[8]
Doswald has been the chairman of the City of Zurich's Work Group for Art in Public Spaces (AG KiöR) 2009 until late 2020.[9][10][11][12][13]</ref> He is responsible for the Art in Public Spaces programme and curated ART AND THE CITY (2012),[14][15][16][17][18] as well as Art Altstetten Albisrieden (2015). The KiöR project zürich – transit – maritim, commonly referred to as "Hafenkran" (harbour crane), attracted a lot of attention. This temporary art intervention at Limmatquai was hotly debated on the Zurich City Council, among the general public and in the media between 2009 and 2016.[19][20][21][22] He has also spoken about art in the public space in lectures, such as "Kampfzone öffentlicher Raum" (Battle Zone Public Space).[23][24]
Doswald has held various teaching positions and guest professorships, e.g. at the
Zurich University of the Arts and at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design,[25] where he replaced
Christian Jankowski while Jankowski was curating
Manifesta 11 in Zurich. Since 2012, Doswald has been a member of the board at visarte.schweiz, the professional association of Switzerland's visual artists. Here, he is in charge of art-in-architecture and art in the public space. In this role, he launched the Prix Visarte awards.[26] He has been president of the foundation Kulturweg Limmat[27] since 2016.][28] In 2023 he curated, together with Swizz curator Paolo Bianchi, „Landscapes of Desire“, the 4th Industrial Art Biennale (IAB) in Labin, Raša, Pula and Rijeka (Croatia).[29][30][31]
His life partner is the German curator and art historian Dorothea Strauss. Doswald lives in and near Zurich.
Projects
Landscapes of Desire - 4th Industrial Art Biennale (IAB), Istria/Croatia 2023 (with Paolo Bianchi)
^Sibylle Egloff: «In Krisenzeiten ist ein regionales Kulturangebot wichtig». Christoph Doswald betreut für die Regionale Projektschau das Projekt «Art Flow», welches das Limmattal künstlerisch neu beleben soll. Limmattaler Zeitung vom 15. Januar 2022