Jurriaan Benschop is a Dutch writer and curator based in Berlin in Athens. His book Waarom een schilderij werkt was published in 2022 in Dutch; the English edition Why Painting Works will follow Spring 2023. For his previous book Salt in the Wound he traveled across the European continent, to speak with leading contemporary artists about their work and artistic roots. In spring 2021 he worked as a writer in residence at Saari Residence in Finland.
For Artforum magazine he has reviewed more than 70 exhibitions. Further reviews, interviews and essays were published in HART, DAMN, Elephant and Tagesspiegel as well as in numerous exhibition catalogs and books.
Among the exhibitions he curated are Taking Root at KIT Düsseldorf (2019-20), Content is a Glimpse (2018-19) at Efremids Gallery Berlin, Re: Imagining Europe (2017) at Box Freiraum, A Matter of Touch (2020) at Torstrasse 111 in Berlin and A Grammar of Gestures (2021-22) at Kourd Gallery in Athens.
As a visiting lecturer he regularly travels to art schools in Europe and the USA , for lectures, studio visits and to conduct writing workshops. Among the schools he visited are the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the University of the Arts Helsinki, the University of Chicago, the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn and the Art Academy of Latvia in Riga. Upcoming visits 2023, Indiana University Bloomingtion, University of South Carolina in Aiken, University of Chicago and University of Arkansas.
Portrait author: © Marc Mulders, 2021