Her curatorial vision emphasizes site-responsive practices that remain attentive to place while engaging broader global conditions. Photo by Sima Dehgani / Photo by Diana Pfammatter

Last month, Juliane Bischoff took over as curator for Portikus, the important Frankfurt institution known for its influential exhibitions on contemporary art. Portikus is the Kunsthalle of the renowned Städelschule and has hosted significant shows by the likes of Rirkrit Tiravanija, Martin Kippenberger, Isa Genzken, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Danh Vo, Simon Starling and Anne Imhof. Bischoff comes to Portikus from Klosterruine Berlin and we caught up with her to hear more about her plans for the institution.

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Congratulations on the new job! What are some of your early priorities for it?

Thank you. At the moment, I am developing the program for the next two years, which involves initiating conversations with artists, but also carefully considering the tempo of the program and its modes of address. While Portikus has a long-standing commitment to site-specific commissions and spatial interventions, I am keen to further expand formats such as performance, film and discursive events in order to activate different registers of perception and engagement.

At the same time, I am reflecting on sustainability and on how long-term collaborations with other institutions might support artistic practices beyond the lifespan of a single exhibition. I am particularly drawn to site-responsive approaches that cultivate an attentiveness to place, environment and historical layers, yet are not confined to singular projects. By grounding precise interventions in specific contexts while situating them within broader global conditions, these practices can generate dialogues that extend across places and time. Given the urgent challenges of our time—rising nationalism, ongoing wars, extractive capitalism and accelerating climate crises—it........

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