Gudied tour at Robert Capa Center (photo: © Capa Center)

CV /
PATRICK URWYLER

Art Historian
Contact

PERSONAL DATA /
OVERVIEW

NAME:
Patrick Urwyler
YEAR OF BIRTH:
1981
NATIONALITY
Swiss
EMAIL:
LANGUAGES
German
native
English
fluent
French
conversational
Ungarisch
conversational

RESUME /
STATEMENT

My education in Bern and Berlin as an art historian with a focus on contemporary art, curatorial studies and museology provided me with a wide range of skills and experience for my professional projects in the Swiss and foreign art context, which I have realized over the last ten years.

After my studies I built up an image database for the Institute of Art History in Bern and for the city of Bern and conducted archive research.  I was able to gain experience as an assistant in two Hungarian galleries, which motivated me to found my own off-space in Budapest. Together with my partner, we established the art space Chimera-Project in the CEE region and gradually converted it into an internationally active program gallery. In the years 2015-2018 we were regularly represented with the gallery at art fairs (e.g. Vienna Contemporary). 

Parallel to my art historical skills, I also developed my technical skills in IT, web design and database development during this time, which have proven to be indispensable for conceptual and administrative tasks in the art business. Thus, I am familiar with the intersection between art and technology and can make it fruitful for professional practice in archives, museums or galleries (see my milestones of "Art History – Digital").

In 2018 the misery of Hungarian cultural policy and the resulting difficult environment for contemporary, progressive art led to a professional reorientation. Since 2018 I have been Studio Manager of Géza Perneczky, whom I had the pleasure of supporting as gallery owner since 2015. 

Géza Perneczky's position as a protagonist of the Hungarian neo-avant-garde enabled me to expand and deepen my work with important institutions, galleries, curators and collectors. My current activities cover a wide range of tasks: Starting with the processing and inventorying of the artists' archive in Cologne, the development of websites and an online art archive with an integrated database, through the organization of exhibitions (most recently at the Robert Capa Center, Budapest), cooperations with galleries and the associated trade fair appearances (cf. miart in Milan or AIPAD in New York 2019); to the handling of sales (e.g. Ludwig Museum Budapest), the publication of books and last but not least the establishment of a foundation that will administer Perneczky's estate. 

An extended selection of projects can be found at the bottom of this page.

Guided tour at Robert Capa Center
Budapest (photo: © Capa Center)

EDUCATION /
SCHOOLARSHIPS

2004 – 2010
UNIVERSITY OF BERNE, SWITZERLAND
Master of Arts in Art History, Curatorial Studies & Museology
Predicate: «insigni cum laude»
(Prof. Dr. Peter Schneemann)
2005 – 2006
HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY BERLIN & FU BERLIN, GERMANY
Art History Studies
(Prof. Dr. Horst Bredekamp)
2005
STUDIENSTIFTUNG DES DEUTSCHEN VOLKES
Alumni
2005
HERTIE FOUNDATION
Alumni

WORK /
REFERENCES

2018 –
INDEPENDENT ART HISTORIAN AND CURATOR
Studio Manager of the Hungarian artist Géza Perneczky
Géza Perneczky (*1936) is a protagonist of the Hungarian Neo-Avangarde. His oeuvre is part of collections such as MoMA NY, Centre Pompidou and the MET NY. Patrick Urwyler manages the artists oeuvre and (pre) estate, inclding building inventory, coordinating of international research, catalogs, sales and exhibitions.
2018 –
Freelancer FOR ART WEBSITES & DATABASE PROJETS
Designer & Developer (webflow)
Including artist website, gallery website, art guide, and a custom archive database solution for artist estate.
2015 – 2018
CHP GALLERY, BUDAPEST
Director of a full-profit program gallery Chimera-Project in Budapest.
The gallery operated on an international level participating in major art fairs, and at the same time was dedicated to a professional, thematic exhibition program. The profile with its represented artists reflected the roots of Hungarian neo-avantgarde and included recent conceptually grounded artistic practices from Hungary and Central Eastern Europe.
2014 – 2018
Works.io, international
Founder and chief adviser for the online platform for contemporary art
Works.io is an artist driven platform, that serves as a tool for art professionals to document their professional activities.
2008 – 2010
Institute of Art History, Berne
Assistant, responsible for the university image database
2008 – 2009
Departement of Culture, Berne
Researcher, building and managing the Berne‘s online
public art database
2007 – 2008
Trafó Gallery, Budapest
Assistent of curator Nikolett Eröss (non-profit institution). One of Budapest leading institutions for contemporary art.
2007 – 2008
VIDEOSPACE GALLERY, BUDAPEST
Assistent of director Eike Berg (full-profit intitution). Professional gallery dedicated to international video artists.
LINKS
GÉZA PERNECZKY
CHIMERA-PROJECT
WORKS
Hungary – Contemporary Art Guide
Cloud based Art Archive Database
developed for the oeuvre of Géza Perneczky

COMPETENCES /
EXPERIENCES

ART MANAGEMENT
Project coordination, communication, logistics, sales, administration, contracts, consignments
Art ARCHIVEs / Databases
Research, artwork inventory, database management and maintainance, MuseumPlus, EasyDB
Project Management
Research, conception, fundraising, organisition & realization, art education, documentation
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Communication, publications, translations, articles, press releases and advertisements
ART FAIRS / SALES
Applications, planning, logistics, installation, communication, negotiations
WEB DESIGN / GRAPHIC DESIGN
Web- and print products, website development, maintainance, SEO, social media, analytics

TECHNICAL SKILLS /
GRAPHIC DESIGN

GRAPHIC DESIGN / OFFICE PACKAGE
Photoshop CC
advanced
InDesign CC
expert
Illustrator CC
advanced
Microsoft Office
expert
WEBSITES & APPS
Design
expert
Developpment
advanced
Maintenance
expert
Google Apps
intermediate
Géza Perneczky's conceptual photography
from the 1970s at Capa Center Budapest

MILESTONES /
PROJECT SELECTION

Chimera Art Award

Chimera Art Award

Art Award for international emerging artists with a residency & solo exhibition in Budapest, selected by an international jury.
(Photo: Winner 2014 - Tsuyoshi Anzai)

Art Award
EXHIBITION (CURATED)
2014 – 2016
Géza Perneczky's conceptual photography at Capa Center, Budapest

Online Art Archive

Building a complete, comprehensiv art archive solution for the oeuvre of Géza Perneczky. Cloud based within the webflow framework.

ART ARCHIVE
Custom Database
2020 –
Networking the Bloc, MIT Press

ViennaContemporary '19

Collaboraition with SODA Gallery (SK) at ViennaContemporary - EXPLORATIONS Section curated by Harald Krejci (Belverede, Vienna)

Art fair
ARTIST MANAGEMENT
2019
UMENIE Slovak Conceptual Art

Slovak Conceptual Art

The exhibition U M E N I E at Chimera-Project presented three of the most important artistic positions of the Slovak conceptual art Stano Filko, Július Koller and Jana Želibská (2017).

Exhibition (CO-CURATED)
INTERNATIONAL
ViennaContemporary 2015 Géza Perneczky

ViennaContemporary '17 Award

Chimera-Project's awarded presentation for ViennaContemporary 2017. With prize winning photo work by Anu Vahtra.

Art Fair
ARTIST MANAGEMNT
2017
Intermarium

Intermarium / Futura, Prague

Chimera-Project was the host of the traveling exhibition Intermarium among others in collaboration with Futura Prague and curated by Łukasz Białkowski, Piotr Sikora

EXHIBITION (CO-CURATED)
INTERNATIONAL
2016
ViennaContemporary 2015 Géza Perneczky

ViennaContemporary '15

Chimera-Project's first international solo presentation at an art fair for the artist Géza Perneczky, invited for the «Reflections» section.

Art Fair
ARTIST MANAGEMENT
2015
Radical Memories

Radical Memories

International group exhibition with Simon Wachsmuth, Asztalos Zsolt, Bernd Hopfengärtner & Ludwig Zeller, Gábor Koós, Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó and Sophie Schmidt.

Exhibition (Curated)
INTERNATIONAL
2015/16
Lucie Fontaine, Off Biennale Budapest

Lucie Fontaine / Off Biennale BP

In collaboration with Lucie Fontaine and it's employees Chimera-Project hosted the project BL(UH)B(E)L on the occasion of the first OFF Biennale in Budapest.

Exhibition (Co-Curated)
BIennale
2015
Free Fall exhibition with Peter Aerschmann

Works.io

Online platform for artists, art professionals and galleries. A professional portfolio tool and inventory for contemporary art.

Online Platform
CLOUD BASED Inventory
2014–
Free Fall exhibition with Peter Aerschmann

Free Fall

International group exhibition, Waliczky Tamás, Peter Aerschmann, Faa Balázs, Kútvölgyi-Szabó Áron, Szabó Eszter.
(Image © Peter Aerschmann)

EXHIBITION (CURATED)
INTERNATIONAL
2014
Géza Perneczky's conceptual photography at Capa Center, Budapest

Online Art Archive

Building a complete, comprehensiv art archive solution for the oeuvre of Géza Perneczky. Cloud based within the webflow framework.

ART ARCHIVE
Custom Database
2020 –
ViennaContemporary 2015 Géza Perneczky

ViennaContemporary '17 Award

Chimera-Project's awarded presentation for ViennaContemporary 2018. With prize winning photo work by Anu Vahtra.

Art Fair
ARTIST MANAGEMNT
2017
ViennaContemporary 2015 Géza Perneczky

ViennaContemporay '15

Chimera-Project's first international solo presentation at an art fair for the artist Géza Perneczky, invited for the «Reflections» section.

Art Fair
ARTIST MANAGEMENT
2015
Free Fall exhibition with Peter Aerschmann

Works.io

Online platform for artists, art professionals and galleries. A professional portfolio tool and inventory for contemporary art.

Online Platform
CLOUD BASED Inventory
2014–
Géza Perneczky's conceptual photography at Capa Center, Budapest

Online Art Archive

Building a complete, comprehensiv art archive solution for the oeuvre of Géza Perneczky. Cloud based within the webflow framework.

ART ARCHIVE
Custom Database
2020
Free Fall exhibition with Peter Aerschmann

Works.io

Online platform for artists, art professionals and galleries. A professional portfolio tool and inventory for contemporary art.

Online Platform
CLOUD BASED Inventory
2014–
UMENIE Slovak Conceptual Art

Slovak Conceptual Art

The exhibition U M E N I E at Chimera-Project presented three of the most important artistic positions of the Slovak conceptual art Stano Filko, Július Koller and Jana Želibská (2017).

Exhibition (CO-CURATED)
INTERNATIONAL
Intermarium

Futura, Prague

Chimera-Project was the host of the traveling exhibition Intermarium among others in collaboration with Futura Prague and curated by Łukasz Białkowski, Piotr Sikora

EXHIBITION (CO-CURATED)
INTERNATIONAL
2016
Radical Memories

Radical Memories

International group exhibition with Simon Wachsmuth, Asztalos Zsolt, Bernd Hopfengärtner & Ludwig Zeller, Gábor Koós, Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó and Sophie Schmidt.

Exhibition (Curated)
INTERNATIONAL
2015/16
Lucie Fontaine, Off Biennale Budapest

Lucie Fontaine / Off Biennale BP

In collaboration with Lucie Fontaine and it's employees Chimera-Project hosted the project BL(UH)B(E)L on the occasion of the first OFF Biennale in Budapest.

Exhibition (Co-Curated)
BIennale
2015
Free Fall exhibition with Peter Aerschmann

Free Fall

International group exhibition, Waliczky Tamás, Peter Aerschmann, Faa Balázs, Kútvölgyi-Szabó Áron, Szabó Eszter.
(Image © Peter Aerschmann)

EXHIBITION (CURATED)
INTERNATIONAL
2014
Chimera Art Award

Chimera Art Award

Art Award for international emerging artists with a residency & solo exhibition in Budapest, selected by an international jury.
(Photo: Winner 2014 - Tsuyoshi Anzai)

Art Award
EXHIBITION (CURATED)
2014 – 2016
ViennaContemporary 2015 Géza Perneczky

ViennaContemporary '17 Award

Chimera-Project's awarded presentation for ViennaContemporary 2018. With prize winning photo work by Anu Vahtra.

Art Fair
ARTIST MANAGEMNT
2017
ViennaContemporary 2015 Géza Perneczky

ViennaContemporary '15

Chimera-Project's first international solo presentation at an art fair for the artist Géza Perneczky, invited for the «Reflections» section.

Art Fair
ARTIST MANAGEMENT
2015