Fabian Schöneich
— German
Berlin
Orientation: Formalist / object-focused, rigorous exhibition-making
Tier: Mid — founder and director of CCA Berlin, formerly curator at Portikus Frankfurt and Kunsthalle Basel
Key projects: Portikus program 2014-18; curatorial advisor to Frieze New York and London; founding CCA Berlin as a non-collecting institution in 2022
Most relevant project for Palazzo Vimana: His founding of CCA Berlin — articulated explicitly as a response to the over-bureaucratization of large institutions, and his stated belief that "curator and institution should step back" so that art and artist can come forward. He built a new non-collecting space from scratch because existing formats were inadequate. This mirrors precisely the gesture Palazzo Vimana makes. He also co-curated Melanchotopia at Witte de With, a project on institutional melancholy and the limits of the art space — again directly resonant.
Reason for interest: His self-built institutional logic is almost identical to Palazzo Vimana's; he actively looks for international platforms matching his curatorial precision
Exhibition fit: The Threshold — German rigor as the third voice in the opening direction