Art Insight #15: Maja Hoffmann
Executive Director of LUMA Arles·President of the LUMA Foundation
Maja Hoffmann is the granddaughter of the industrialist Emanuel Hoffmann, and the daughter of the pharmaceutical magnate Luc Hoffmann. Hoffmann’s grandmother, Maja Stehlin, found the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation in 1933 to honour her husband Emanuel who died young in a car accident, and later took a step closer to the public through the Schaulager Museum. Maja Hoffmann, the vice president of the Emanuel Hoffmann foundation, established the LUMA Foundation seventy years later in 2004, named for her children, Lucas and Marina. A family legacy of support for the arts, one of the largest in Europe, was thus created.
The LUMA Foundation is a non-profit organization that is growing into an enterprise that supports the international projects and exhibitions of countless artists. The biggest patron for at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Venice Biennale, and the Serpentine Gallery in London, Maja Hoffmann is on the board at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, Tate Modern in London, and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
An entire floor named after her at the New Museum in New York speaks to her influence. She has most recently become the patron of Photo London, which launched in 2015, and organizes the annual Pool Project with Michael Ringier and Beatrix Rufto support young curators.
The president of the avant-garde Kunsthalle in Zürich, Maja Hoffmann has been hard at work with the LUMA Arles Project that was launched in 2013. Envisioned as a headquarters for taking down barriers between genres and encouraging an active, collaborative structure, LUMA Arles is set to finish construction in 2018. Hoffmann took time out of her busy schedule to discuss her philosophy and vision on supporting the arts.
LUMA Arles will continue to engage with and respond to innovative approaches and latest developments in our world. - Maja Hoffmann -
Q. You are doing a great number of projects for the global art scene, but the biggest project you’re overseeing yourself is the new headquarters for LUMA, designed by Frank Gehry, estimated to cost €150 million and currently under construction in Arles, France. I’d really to ask how these achievements, arrangements, and working schedules are possible.
First of all, ‘partnership and timing’ are two important words. I would answer ‘lightness’ as one attitude and ‘be where we are needed’ as one aim.
Q. What exhibitions and programs do you have planned now? Can you provide any details about 2016 resolutions for you and your team?
This summer, we are producing a group show in Arles that involves one architect for the exhibition display and four artists curating four different shows about new structures for the presentation of the photographic image, taking place in our new space, the Mécanique Générale, refurbished by Selldorf Architects. In addition, we are in the process of further developing Offprint, an independent publishing fair and forum. We are inviting the photography festival Rencontres d’Arles again to show one of their exhibitions at L’Atelier des Forges and the Grande Halle in the Parc des Ateliers. In autumn, we start developing an artist residency program.
Q. What are your visions for LUMA Foundation’s role in the 21st century?
With the LUMA Foundation, we want to further develop projects with LUMA Arles, but also partner up with other institutions to collect interesting works and produce ambitious exhibitions. We’d also like to get involved more and more in environmental issues and human rights, and provide forums to discuss major changes in our world.
Q. LUMA Arles project seems to change the city itself. Your affection for the region comes through in articles I have read of you. Can you give us a small preview of the inaugural exhibition that will be held 2018?
LUMA Arles will continue to engage with and respond to innovative approaches and latest developments in our world. We try not to define everything in advance, but are aware of the long lead times of exhibitions production.
Q. Hyundai Motors is trying to support many artists and projects all around the world as your family business La Roche did. What was the first motivation of La Roche’s philanthropy, and how was this legacy of supporting the arts passed on from generation to generation?
La Roche is supporting mainly musical events, classical compositions, and commissioned art works for their headquarters. Their focus is currently not primarily on contemporary art, but hopefully this will change as the time goes by. On the non-corporate side, the foundation started with the collection from our grandparents, which is presented in Switzerland at the Kunstmuseum in Basel, and stored and studied at the Schaulager of the Laurenz Foundation, where it was just shown extensively in 2015.My grandmother also passed the “collecting virus” to me; over time, I transformed this into a more plan and production-based activity, which is the purpose of the LUMA Arles project. Her relationships with artists like Jean Arp, Georges Braque, and Jean Tinguely among others, especially impressed me and I only now fully understand this when observing my own exchanges.
-
Q. What do you think about Korean art? I also wonder about your opinion on the Asian art scene.
I discovered South Korean art through many art organizations in Korea including the Gwangju Biennale, which presents artworks by foreign and local artists, creating a fruitful environment for the arts. I believe that Korean art is mainly intended for the Asian market, but I may be wrong as many definitions are currently changing. Places like London and particularly Tate Modern’s collection are open to Asian art. From a Western point of view, it is a fascinating process to see how the art world is geographically consumed and globalized, no longer just focused on art of specific region.
-
Q. As a leading figure in contemporary art, do you have any advice for aspiring young artists and curators?
Speak what your heart and soul advise you to. We live in a fast-changing world and there are probably many reasons to be pessimistic about the future of the planet. Try to avoid participating in the overall hype and stress, and instead thrive in your own way, without getting overwhelmed by too many external voices. Try to break down the academic boundaries and think multi-disciplinary. Be local before you become global, but aim for global resonance live with your time and be courageous. ■ with ARTINPOST
-
Installation view of <Frank Gehry: Solaris Chronicles> at Arles 2014 Philippe Parreno <Marquee(Beaubourg)> 2009(white marquee: Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation)
The exhibition was commissioned and produced by the LUMA Foundation for the Parc des Ateliers, Arles
Photo: Michael Alberry Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Installation view of <Frank Gehry: Solaris Chronicles> at Arles 2014 Philippe Parreno <Marquee(Beaubourg)> 2009(white marquee: Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation)
The exhibition was commissioned and produced by the LUMA Foundation for the Parc des Ateliers, Arles
Photo: Michael Alberry Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Installation view of <Frank Gehry: Solaris Chronicles> at Arles 2014 Philippe Parreno <Marquee(Beaubourg)> 2009(white marquee: Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation)
The exhibition was commissioned and produced by the LUMA Foundation for the Parc des Ateliers, Arles
Photo: Michael Alberry Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Installation view of <Frank Gehry: Solaris Chronicles> at Arles 2014 Philippe Parreno <Marquee(Beaubourg)> 2009(white marquee: Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation)
The exhibition was commissioned and produced by the LUMA Foundation for the Parc des Ateliers, Arles
Photo: Michael Alberry Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Katharina Fritsch <St. Katharina> 2006-07
Collection Maja Hoffmann
Photo: Francois Halard Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Olafur Eliasson <Colour globe> 2006
Collection Maja Hoffmann
Photo: Francois Halard Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Installation view of <Wolfgang Tillmans: Neue Welt> at Arles, Parc des Ateliers 2013 Right image: <Ursuppe> b, 2010
Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation
Photo:Lionel Roux Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Installation view of <Wolfgang Tillmans: Neue Welt> at Arles, Parc des Ateliers 2013 Right image: Silver 92, 2012
Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation
Photo: LionelRoux Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Installation view of <Wolfgang Tillmans: Neue Welt> at Arles, Parc des Ateliers 2013 <MarketI>, 2012
Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation
Photo: Lionel Roux Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Stan VanDerBeek <Movie-Drome> 1963-66/2012 Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation Installation view of POOL exhibition <Go! You sure? Yeah>, 2014, LUMA Westbau, Zurich
Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Stan VanDerBeek <Movie-Drome> 1963-66/2012 Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation Installation view of POOL exhibition <Go! You sure? Yeah>, 2014, LUMA Westbau, Zurich
Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Liam Gillick <Split Discussion> 2014
Collection Maja Hoffmann
Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Liam Gillick <Split Discussion> 2014
Collection Maja Hoffmann
Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Installation view of <Isa Genzken: Mach Dich Hubsch!> 2015, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Work on the floor: Isa Genzken <Untitled> 2012
Collection Maja Hoffmann
Photo: Gert Jan van Rooij Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Architectural impression aerial view of LUMA Arles, Parc des Ateliers Image courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Architectural impression aerial view of LUMA Arles, Parc des Ateliers Image courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Construction of the new building designed by Frank Gehry, Parc des Ateliers, Arles
Photo: Herve Hote Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Aerial view of the construction site in the Parc des Ateliers, Arles
Photo: Herve Hote Photo credit: Maja Hoffmann
-
Maja Hoffmann & Core Group
Photo: J Unger
Profile
The photo credit is: Wolfgang Tillmans
Being selected as 20th of ‘Power100’ by Art Review, Maja Hoffmann is currently active with her philanthropy at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Venice Biennale, and the Serpentine Gallery in London. Hoffmann also serves as a board member of Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, New York’s New Museum and London’s Tate Gallery. She is also a key backer of the ongoing cultural program at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In 2004, she created the LUMA Foundation, and in 2013, found the LUMA Arles which is opening in 2018. She is the president of Kunsthalle Zürich and vice president of Basel’s Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation.
Art Insight: Read trends in contemporary art ahead of time through the eyes of global leaders
GO >
