Angelika Nollert has become the newest member of the UniCredit & Art Scientific Commission, a body of international experts, chaired by Walter Guadagnini, which supervises acquisitions for the Group's art collection.
The collection is distinguished by its diversity, wealth and historical importance, with works from Italy, Austria, Germany and the other 19 countries in which UniCredit Group operates. In the collection are an estimated 60,000 pieces that range from Mesopotamian artifacts to masterpieces by great artists of the past, including Canaletto, Tintoretto, Klein, Léger, Beuys, Cragg, Christo, Richter and Baselitz. In addition to its acquisitional efforts, the UniCredit & Art program seeks to promote young, creative talent in the countries where the Group is present by collaborating with important institutions in support of productions, residencies and publications in the fields of art and culture.
The Scientific Commission also includes: Luca Massimo Barbero, Director of the MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome and Associate Curator of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection; Lóránd Hegyi, Director of the Modern Art Museum of Saint Etienne (France) and historian and art critic specializing in works from Central and Eastern Europe; Graziella Buontempo Lonardi, founder of "Incontri Internazionali d'Arte", an association that promotes Italian art abroad.
Born in 1966 in Duisburg, Germany, Nollert was originally trained in the banking sector. She graduated in Art History, Archaeology and German Language and Literature from the University of Würzburg and Münster. In 1997, she worked at Skulptur Projekte Münster, after which, from 1997 to 2000, she was the curator at Portikus in Frankfurt. In 2001, she was the project manager of Documenta 11 in Kassel. As part of the show's educational program, Nollert held workshops on art theory and history at the Städelschule Academy of Fine Arts in Frankfurt. She has conducted courses at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Nollert has been responsible for Visual Arts at the Siemens Arts Program in Munich since October 2002. In October 2007, she began serving as Director of Nuremberg's Neues Museum. She is a board member of the Braunschweig Art University and the Nuremberg Academy of Art.
While curator at Frankfurt's Portikus, Nollert organized a number shows for acclaimed artists, which included Christian Jankowski, Thomas Hirschhorn, Daniel Buren, Maria Eichhorn, Andreas Siekmann, Manfred Pernice and Elke Krystufek. For the Siemens Arts Program, she launched and co-supervised several themed shows, including "Performative Installation", a series of five exhibitions organized at the Galerie im Taxispalais in Innsbruck (2003), the Ludwig Museum in Cologne (2003/2004), the Contemporary Art Museum in Siegen (2003/2004), the Secession in Vienna (2004) and the Contemporary Art Museum in Leipzig (2004). Nollert also co-supervised the "Kollektive Kreativität" (Collective Creativity) at Kassel's Kunsthalle Fridericianum (2005), as well as "Akademie" (Academy), a project in three parts that was exhibited at the Kunstverein in Hamburg (2005), the van Hedendaagse Kunst Museum in Antwerp (2006) and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven (2006).
In addition to having written for art catalogues, Nollert has authored a number of essays and prefaces on themes related to contemporary art. She also co-supervised a publication that resulted from two conventions organized by the Siemens Arts Program entitled "Faktor X. Zeitgenössische Kunst in München" (2005). This publication was edited by Nollert with Florian Matzner and Birgit Sonna.
Nollert's appointment to the commission further advances UniCredit and Art's strategic aim to expand the international reach of its cultural programs. The internationalization of UniCredit & Art and the Group's collection is reflected in the recent geographic expansion of its acquisitions to include contemporary work from all of the countries in which the company operates. A figure like Nollert, whose professional experience has involved international artists from the most renowned German institutions, serves as another important addition to the program and its philosophy.
UniCredit Group
One of the main financial institutions in Europe, UniCredit Group operates in 22 countries and has more than 40 million customers, 10,200 branch offices and 177,000 employees.
In addition to Italy, the Group operates in Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary.
UniCredit Press Office, +39 02 3200 5790
Francesca Palermo-Patera, francesca.palermopatera@unicreditgroup.eu
UniCredit & Art, unicreditandart@unicreditgroup.eu