In this episode of The Art Bystander, host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar sits down with Daniel Arsham, one of the most influential contemporary artists working today — an artist whose work treats the present as if it were already history. Arsham is internationally known for what he calls “fictional archaeology”: sculptures, objects, and environments that imagine contemporary culture as relics of the future — eroded, crystallized, and excavated from time yet to come.

Born in Cleveland, raised in Miami, and educated at The Cooper Union in New York, Arsham has built a practice that moves fluidly between fine art, architecture, design, fashion, and popular culture. His work is held in major museum collections around the world and has reached audiences far beyond the traditional art world, shaping how an entire generation encounters contemporary art.

With his recent book Future Relic, Arsham turns the lens inward. The book offers a rare and unvarnished account of what it actually takes to build a life in art — the failures, detours, discipline, and belief that exist behind the finished works we usually encounter only at the end of the journey.

From photographing the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew as a teenager in Miami, to formative years at Cooper Union, to collaborations with Merce Cunningham, Pharrell Williams, Christian Dior, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Arsham shares the experiences that shaped both his work and his worldview.

Future Relic is not a romanticized memoir. It’s closer to a masterclass — a brutally honest guide to the realities of building a creative life. Arsham speaks candidly about the grind behind the work: how to find a gallery, why having the right lawyer matters, how to think like a creative entrepreneur, and why surrounding yourself with ambitious people is essential.

In this conversation, we talk about time, ambition, rejection, visibility, and the long game of making art — not just objects, but a practice capable of enduring.

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In this episode of The Art Bystander, Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar meets with Barbara Corti, Partner at Hauser & Wirth and Senior Director overseeing the gallery’s spaces in Zurich Limmatstrasse and St. Moritz.

Having spent more than two decades with the gallery across Europe and the United States, Corti brings a rare perspective on the evolving geography of the contemporary art world. After fourteen years in New York — including leading Hauser & Wirth’s Manhattan location in the former Roxy disco and roller-skating rink — she returned to Switzerland in 2020, where she now helps shape the gallery’s programming and presence across Zurich and St. Moritz.

The conversation moves between continents and contexts: from the velocity of the New York art world to the quieter but deeply rooted collector culture of Switzerland. We discuss the particular rhythms of Zurich and St. Moritz, the role of seasonality in shaping art audiences, and the long-term relationships between galleries and artists that continue to define Hauser & Wirth’s approach. Alongside her institutional role, Corti works closely with artists including Rita Ackermann, Anna Maria Maiolino, Mary Heilmann and Nicolas Party.

As always on The Art Bystander, the discussion unfolds in a conversational format — offering insight into how galleries, artists, places and collectors shape one another over time. Mentioned in the episode: Upcoming exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse opening during Zurich Art Weekend 2026: War_overlays — Avery Singer and Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked — James Jarvaise & Henry Taylor

Some of the hotels and restaurants discussed in the episode belong to Artfarm, the hospitality company founded by Iwan Wirth and Manuela Wirth. Artfarm operates independently from Hauser & Wirth.

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This episode is for you — my loyal friends and followers who share my deep love for the purest form of human expression there is: art.

Many of you have asked me to open up more, to share what sits behind the platform, the voice, and the choices — so here we are.

As The Art Bystander marks its three-year anniversary this February, I sit down for an intimate conversation with my life and business partner, Ellen. Together we reflect on why I started The Art Bystander, what has driven it from the beginning, and what continues to guide everything we do.

From the bottom of my heart — thank you for being part of this journey, for your curiosity, your trust, and your presence. I’m deeply grateful you’re here with us.

#theartbystander

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Today on The Art Bystander, I speak with Marlies Wirth, Curator for Digital Culture and Head of the Design Collection at the MAK in Vienna, about one of the most quietly radical figures of late-20th- and early-21st-century culture: Helmut Lang. Our conversation turns not to his later sculptural practice, but to the architecture of a legacy that reshaped how we understand design, communication, identity, and the very idea of what a fashion house could be.

The MAK’s new exhibition, Excerpts from the MAK Helmut Lang Archive — running 10.12.2025 → 03.05.2026 — reflects on the years 1986–2005, a period in which Lang’s vision dissolved the boundaries between disciplines. His work unfolded across clothing, graphics, architecture, staging, branding, and digital experimentation — not as separate gestures, but as parts of a single cultural language. Long before he stepped away from fashion, Lang had already begun to operate like an artist moving across mediums, using every surface as a site of meaning.

This retrospective reveals how deeply his ideas anticipated the world we now take for granted. It recalls the moment he livestreamed a runway before the internet had become a stage; the years when he turned New York itself into an extension of his voice; the way his presentations and stores became environments rather than commercial spaces. Lang’s legacy is not simply a story of minimalism or aesthetic restraint — it is a study in how form can become communication, and how identity can be constructed with both precision and quiet intensity.

In speaking with Marlies, the past becomes newly vivid: not nostalgic, but architectural. We explore how Lang’s decisions — from the shape of a jacket to the rhythm of a campaign, to the destruction of his own archive — can be understood as part of a larger narrative about authorship, memory, and the courage to redefine oneself.

This episode looks back at the cultural landscape Helmut Lang helped build, and the echoes of his vision that continue to structure how we see and experience the world today.

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Welcome back to The Art Bystander, the podcast that explores the stories, ideas, and people shaping the world of contemporary art. Our host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar is taking you behind the scenes of one of the most influential art fairs in the world — Paris Photo. Founded in 1997, it has become the leading international fair dedicated entirely to photography, a place where artists, collectors, curators, and institutions converge to celebrate and challenge the medium.

Joining me are Florence Bourgeois, Director of Paris Photo, and Anna Planas, Artistic Director. Together, they’ve been redefining what a photography fair can be — expanding its cultural scope, international reach, and curatorial ambition.

In this conversation, we’ll discuss the evolving role of photography in the art ecosystem, how Paris Photo bridges artistic and commercial worlds, and what it takes to curate a fair that remains both relevant and visionary. So whether you’re a collector, a photographer, or simply curious about how images shape our times — this episode is for you.

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Today on The Art Bystander, our host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar is joined by Francesca Grima — Creative Director of GRIMA Jewellery, and the guardian of one of the most influential design legacies in modern jewellery.

Her father, Andrew Grima, changed everything. Often called the father of modern jewellery, he treated gold like sculpture, embraced raw stones in their natural form, and pushed the art of adornment into the realm of architecture and abstraction. His pieces were worn by royalty, collected by icons, and displayed in major museums — yet his spirit always remained independent and quietly rebellious.

Francesca has carried that legacy forward in her own way. Since taking over the house in 2007, she’s reimagined GRIMA as a contemporary atelier — producing small, handcrafted collections and bespoke pieces alongside her mother, Jojo. Each work still bears that unmistakable GRIMA DNA — sculptural, textured, and fearless — but now infused with Francesca’s own sensitivity to form, emotion, and modern life.

In our conversation, we’ll talk about what it means to inherit and evolve a creative legacy, the emotional side of making wearable art, and how Francesca balances intuition, heritage, and innovation in a world that moves faster than ever.

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The art world is undergoing a profound transformation. Traditional models of collecting and dealing are giving way to new players, platforms, and hybrid business models that blur the lines between galleries, auction houses, advisors, and digital marketplaces. At The Art Bystander, we are closely following these shifts—where technology, luxury, and creativity intersect to redefine how art is experienced, bought, and sold.

In this context, our host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar is joined by Elliot Safra, a figure at the forefront of these changes. Safra is the co-founder of The Art Marketplace, an online platform facilitating global private sales, and the founder of AndArt Agency, a creative consultancy dedicated to building collaborations between luxury brands and the art world.

With a background that includes leadership in the Chairman’s Office at Christie’s and as Senior Director of Global Strategy at Lévy Gorvy (now Lévy Gorvy Dayan), as well as early experience in Management Consulting and Private Equity, he brings a unique vantage point on how the evolving art economy is reshaping opportunities for collectors, brands, and cultural institutions alike.

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In this episode, our host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar turns the spotlight on two art fairs that have each shaped the mid-tier ecosystem in distinct ways.

The Affordable Art Fair, founded in London in 1999 by Will Ramsay, has grown into a global franchise with editions in over a dozen cities — from Hong Kong to Hamburg, New York to Stockholm. With its price cap of around €10,000, the fair has opened the art market to tens of thousands of new collectors and offered emerging artists a platform to reach international audiences. Representing AAF in this conversation is Carl-Wilhelm Hirsch, who has helped steward its mission of accessibility and growth.

The Volta Art Fairs, launched in Basel in 2005, are known as the “discovery fair,” championing solo presentations and younger galleries that bring experimental voices to the fore. Active today in both Basel and New York, Volta has built a reputation as the place where collectors often encounter artists just before they break through. Here, we hear from Francesca Starling, who has been instrumental in shaping Volta’s evolving vision.

Together, these two fairs embody a vital counterpoint to the mega-fairs that dominate headlines. They prioritize intimacy, accessibility, and discovery — serving as laboratories where new collector generations are nurtured and where artistic risk-taking remains possible.

As always, I’m fascinated by how the future of the art market unfolds, and conversations like this reveal how fairs at this scale — human, innovative, and open — might shape the next chapter of global collecting.

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