CURRENT PROJECTS

Verena Formanek is an international Curator, artist and former Senior Project Manager for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,designed by Frank Gehry, and worked in the Tourism Development and Investment Company(TDIC) and Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi(DCTAD).

She is currently based in Zürich, Basle and Vienna, working as a freelance curator, collection and museum advisor and artist.Previously, she managed the development and strategic implementation of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, overseeing curatorial, architectural, structural, financial, and organizational aspects of the project. Her role included strategic planning for the pre-opening of the Abu Dhabi Cultural District, envisioned as the world’s largest concentration of museums.

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Before joining TDIC’s Cultural Department, Formanek was the Director of Collections at the Museum for Design, Zürich, where she established a competence center for its four major collections: arts and crafts, graphic design, poster collection, and design focused on swiss topics. She also developed the museum’s collection strategy, supervised acquisitions, and enhanced the public positioning of the collection in directing the publication named Wertewandel, published by Hatje-Cantz, the museum’s first catalogue raisonné of all it´s collection items, designed by Irma Boom. Additionally, she extended the public knowledge about the Swiss collections in  featuring an exhibition named Every Thing Design presented by Atelier OI, Neuchatel.

From 1994, she served as Deputy Artistic Director of the Fondation Beyeler in Basle, Switzerland, working closely with Ernst Beyeler and Markus Brüderlin(+) in establishing the Foundation, designed by Renzo Piano. Her responsibilities included exhibitions, collection management, and institutional organization. In Vienna, she was Deputy Director of the MAK (Museum of Applied/Contemporary Arts) which reopened in 1993 after extensive renovations. She also led the cultural project management for renowned contemporary artist interventions within the museum’s permanent collection, collaborating with artists such as Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Günther Förg, Gangart,Heimo Zobernig, Gregor Eichinger, Manfred Wakolbinger and Barbara Bloom.