Meta Knol
Meta Knol, curator modern & contemporary art, Centraal museum Utrecht, www.centraalmuseum.nl
Meta Knol is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. She maintained a broad orientation throughout her studies in Utrecht: in addition to art history, she also studied philosophy, film and theatre studies and musicology. Since then, she has curated exhibitions, authored various publications and served as a source of inspiration for and (co-) organiser of a number of unique cultural initiatives, such as the artists' residence The Fifth Season in the grounds of a psychiatric hospital in Den Dolder, the industrial monument The Power Station in Neerijnen, the foundation Art Aids and now the travelling exhibition pavilion Pleinmuseum.
Meta Knol is above all interested in artists with a multifaceted oeuvre who manifest a strong and innate enthusiasm for juggling with different disciplines and who welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other artists. In 1997 she curated an exhibition in the Stadsgalerij Heerlen of the avant-garde artist, writer, poet, typographer and performer Kurt Schwitters entitled Kurt Schwitters in the Netherlands, which was accompanied by a full publication. Knol also seeks out artists in the contemporary spectrum who can match Schwitter's characteristic drive and versatility. In the Centraal Museum she worked as a researcher for the catalogue of the modern art collection (published 2004) and in 2005 she recently completed the intermuseum collection catalogue US in NL: American Art in Dutch Museums. In the summer of 2004 she curated Microcosm and Black on White, exhibitions of drawings that were widely acclaimed. In 2006 she curated the exhibition This is America. Visions of the American Dream, in which contemporary artists reviewed the American dominancy in global mass and media culture, with works by a.o. Candice Breitz, Olaf Nicolai, Lucy Orta, Jens Haaning, Aernout Mik, Sarah Morris and Tom Sachs. In 2007 she published together with Edwin Jacobs and Stijn Huijts the Manifesto for an Enfranchised Museum in NRC-Handelsblad, a leading Dutch newspaper. It has raised a huge debate in the Dutch museum world.
