You’ve probably heard the term "curated" used for everything from a subscription snack box to a Spotify playlist. It’s everywhere. But for Hans Ulrich Obrist—or HUO, as the art world calls him—curating isn't about picking cool stuff. It’s basically a form of life support for ideas.
Honestly, if you want to understand how culture actually moves in 2026, you have to look at how this guy operates. He doesn't just hang pictures on walls. He’s more like a human switchboard connecting people who didn't know they needed to talk.
The Kitchen That Changed Everything
Back in 1991, Obrist was a student in St. Gallen, Switzerland. He didn't have a museum. He didn't have a budget. What he had was a kitchen.
He invited artists like Christian Boltanski and Fischli & Weiss to put work right there among the dishes. He called it "World Soup." Only 29 people showed up, but that didn't matter. It proved that an exhibition isn't a building—it’s a spark.
This early project set the tone for everything that followed. It was about "the blurring of art and life." Why wait for a white-cube gallery when you have a refrigerator? This DIY energy is what makes Hans Ulrich Obrist curating so distinct. It’s the idea that art should happen where we least expect it.
Why the "Kitchen Show" was a turning point:
- It removed the gatekeepers.
- It used domestic space to make art feel less "precious" and more "necessary."
- It launched the "Migratory Curator" concept, where the show follows the person, not the other way around.
The Interview Project: A Never-Ending Conversation
If you see a guy in a suit sprinting through an airport with a digital recorder, it's probably HUO. He has recorded over 2,000 hours of interviews.
He treats conversation as a curatorial tool. To him, an interview isn't just a Q&A; it's a way to map out the "unrealized projects" of the world’s greatest minds. He famously asks artists about the things they haven't been able to do. The failures. The dreams that were too expensive or too weird.
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This isn't just trivia. By documenting these "ghost projects," he creates a roadmap for future exhibitions. He’s basically building a library of the future.
The Marathon: More Than Just a Long Talk
At the Serpentine Galleries in London, where he’s been the Artistic Director since 2006, Obrist turned the "talk" into an endurance sport. The Marathons are 24-hour events where scientists, poets, architects, and activists just... go for it.
They’ve done the Manifesto Marathon, the Poetry Marathon, and even an Extinction Marathon. It sounds exhausting. It is. But the goal is to break down the "silos" we all live in. Why should a physicist and a painter live in different worlds?
"Exhibitions can push the radical, experimental solutions because they are not permanent." — Hans Ulrich Obrist
These events feel like a "social sculpture." It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s exactly what the art world needs when things get too stuffy or corporate.
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"Do It": The Open-Source Exhibition
One of his most famous projects is called do it. It started in 1993 in Paris. The premise is simple: artists write instructions, and the public carries them out.
Instead of shipping expensive paintings across the ocean, Obrist ships a book of rules. One artist might tell you to "take a walk with a piece of string." Another might tell you to "make a meal for a stranger."
This is Hans Ulrich Obrist curating at its most democratic. It’s been to over 120 cities. It never looks the same twice because the local people are the ones "making" the art. It’s open-source culture. It’s also a way to fight back against the idea that art is only for the 1%.
The Instagram Post-It Notes
Even his social media is a curatorial project. If you follow him, you’ve seen the handwritten notes on blue or yellow Post-its.
He asks people—everyone from David Hockney to Virgil Abloh (before he passed)—to write a message. In an age of ChatGPT and digital fonts, there’s something weirdly moving about seeing someone’s actual handwriting.
It’s a "protest against forgetting." He’s obsessed with the idea that we are losing our connection to the physical, human mark. These notes are tiny exhibitions for the digital age.
What we can learn from HUO’s method:
- Don't wait for permission. Start your "kitchen show" today.
- Listen more than you talk. The best ideas come from the gaps in conversation.
- Cross-pollinate. Talk to people outside your bubble.
- Think in "prose." Complexity is better than a simple bullet point.
Is It All Just Hype?
Look, some people find his "always-on" energy a bit much. Critics sometimes say he’s more interested in the act of curating than the art itself. But honestly? In a world that feels increasingly fragmented, having someone whose entire job is to "make junctions" is pretty vital.
He’s a polymath who refuses to stay in his lane. Whether he’s talking about the "science of a stroll" (promenadology) or the necessity of night trains, he’s trying to liberate time. He wants us to slow down and see the connections we’re missing.
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Actionable Insights for Your Own Projects
You don't need a degree from the Royal College of Art to use these tactics. If you're "curating" a community, a brand, or even just your own life, here is how to do it like HUO:
- Map the Unrealized: Ask your team or friends: "What is the one project you’ve always wanted to do but were told was impossible?" Start there.
- Embrace the Temporary: Stop trying to build "forever" things. Build a "pop-up" experience that exists for a moment and then lives on as a rumor.
- Instructional Thinking: Instead of giving people a finished product, give them the "score" or the "recipe." Let them finish the work for you.
- The Power of the Archive: Document everything. Not for "content," but for memory. Every conversation is a potential bridge to a project five years down the line.
Hans Ulrich Obrist reminds us that a curator isn't a boss. A curator is an enabler. By focusing on the "caring" aspect of the word (from the Latin curare), he’s shifted the focus from the object to the person. That’s why, even in 2026, his "World Soup" philosophy is the most refreshing thing in the room.