Curator and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist has some advice about your address book

Curator and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist has some advice about your address book
Things I Learned Along The Way — Huck’s Fiftieth Special collects lessons learned and creative advice from fifty of the most inspiring people we know. Each day we’ll be sharing a new excerpt from the magazine. Today, we hear from curator and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist on how connecting people leads to creativity.

 

#11 – Hans Ulrich Obrist

Hans Ulrich Obrist spent his teens travelling across Europe, sleeping on overnight trains and meeting every member of every art scene he came across. Along the way, he added so many business cards to his leather-bound address book that it wouldn’t hold together. When computers revolutionised the way he kept contacts, Obrist dispensed with the old book and threw himself into the digital age, but the concept hasn’t changed – when people are connected, creativity is sparked.

“The cyber introductions didn’t come out of the blue; I would connect people I met. I would connect someone I met on my travels with someone in another city when I would see a pattern. They’d be interested in the same thing. I always believed if you brought people together lots of things could happen.”

This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives. 

Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.

Latest on Huck

An epic portrait of 20th Century America
Photography

An epic portrait of 20th Century America

‘Al Satterwhite: A Retrospective’ brings together scenes from this storied chapter of American life, when long form reportage was the hallmark of legacy media.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Bobby Gillespie: “This country is poisoned by class”
Culture

Bobby Gillespie: “This country is poisoned by class”

Primal Scream’s legendary lead singer writes about the band’s latest album ‘Come Ahead’ and the themes of class, conflict and compassion that run throughout it.

Written by: Bobby Gillespie

Vibrant photos of New York’s Downtown performance scene
Photography

Vibrant photos of New York’s Downtown performance scene

‘Balloons and Feathers’ is an eclectic collection of images documenting the scene for over two decades.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Picking through the rubble: Glimpses of hope in the US election results
Activism

Picking through the rubble: Glimpses of hope in the US election results

Clambering through the wreckage of the Harris campaign, delving deeper into the election results and building on the networks that already exist, all hope is not gone writes Ben Smoke.

Written by: Ben Smoke

US Election night 2024 in Texas
Photography

US Election night 2024 in Texas

Photographer Tom “TBow” Bowden travelled to Republican and Democratic watch parties around Houston, capturing their contrasting energies as results began to flow in.

Written by: Isaac Muk

In photos: “Real life is not black and white” – Polaroid x Magnum Open Call winners
Photography

In photos: “Real life is not black and white” – Polaroid x Magnum Open Call winners

See pictures from the competition organised by two titans of contemporary photography, which called upon artists to reject the digitalisation and over-perfectionism of our modern world, technology and image-making.

Written by: Huck

Sign up to our newsletter

Issue 81: The more than a game issue

Buy it now