ABOUT
Erno Vroonen (*1956 in Belgium) is a private curatorial advisor and independent curator for contemporary art based in Munich. After his studies in Art History and Archeology he started his career in the 1980s with his gallery Polynero (1984-88) and as an art consultant in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1996 he moved to Germany, where he became artistic director of the Aktionsforum Praterinsel in Munich (1998-2002). His love for contemporary art inspired a lot of collectors, curators, gallerists and artists.
Erno Vroonen has written for several art publications and exhibition catalogues. He is member of AICA (Association of International Art Critics) since 1983. He organized numerous international exhibitions for galleries and art institutions, such as Frontiera / Belgian Selection 92 (Bolzano), Invita (Verona, 1992/93); Something Happens… (Lier, Belgium); Echo of My Mind (Munich); Surrounding Mapplethorpe, Sonder Schau und Dalla Scirocco al Föhn (Praterinsel, Munich and Genoa); 4Ks2/63, The Auschwitz Trial (Frankfurt am Main and Berlin); Check in Europe (European Patent Office, Munich); b.LINE (Niewkerke, Belgium); 7 days brunch (Basel); Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere, Galerie der Künstler (Munich); Gegenüber und Miteinander, Church Congress 2010 (Munich); Carte Blanche, Galerie Patrick Waldburger 2010 ( Brussels )
From 2006-2008 and 2010-2012 Erno Vroonen advised the „Spirit of BOZ Association Julien Friedler for Contemporary Art“ for exhibitions and the conceptional development of the association. In this context he curated the exhibition trilogy BeBOZ in Munich (2008) with the focus on the theme „Alternative dialogues in our Contemporary Culture“.
From 2008-2012 he became the curatorial advisor for the Groeninghe collective in Bruges, Belgium, where he advised purchases from artists such as Tomas Saraceno, Ida Ekblad, Damiàn Ortega, Pamela Rosenkranz, Thomas Zipp, Matthias Dornfeld, David Claerbout, Monika Sosnowska and Rinus van de Velde (amongst others).
Erno Vroonen is very well known for discovering in an early stage promising talents. For that reason he was invited as a reviewer for the 2011 edition of „Mannheim Fotofestival“, curated by Katerina Gregos: The Eye Is A Lonely Hunter.
From 2014-2018 he worked as the curatorial advisor for the private Belgian collection Van Tuyckom-Taets in order to upgrade and contextualize the collection. In this context he also co-supervised the public presentation of the collection at Vlerick Business School in Brussels and Gent.
In May 2016 he curated an exhibition for the auction house Karl & Faber in Munich called "Second Chance", dealing with the idea of freeports for art.
From 2018 off Erno Vroonen invested more time in advising artists, regarding content and strategy. In 2019 he took the decision to reactivate an initiative he initially presented at the Brussels Art Fair in 2014. „The School of Awareness“ deals with the fact that nowadays it becomes more than important that artists get access to independent advisory regarding the finetuning of their artistic work and their possible careers.
Since 1999 he is having a regular teaching assignment and gives lectures at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (Master Studies Art & Therapy).
In the Context of the Festival - Edition 2020- of the University for Applied Arts in Vienna Erno Vroonen curated his first Online Exhibition called "No Position". Together with 15 Students from the Art and Communication, Textil and experimental Design Sections he realised a 45 min presentation of 13 short videostatements, illustrating the isolated situation in which most participants had to live over the Sommersemester 2020, due to Covid19.
In Autumm 2020 he curated a show for the Krinzinger Projektraum, in the Context of the "curated by" Vienna edition 2020. Under the theme "hybridity", the group show "Just in case you would have
forgotten" combined the works from contemporary artist from different generations and different countries.
Participating artists:
Matthias Dornfeld, Nick Ervinck, Bruno Gironcoli, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Marguerite Humeau, Urs Lüthi, Eva Schlegel and Martin Walde.
For the Exhibition "Würzelspitzen" / Starnberger See, an extraordinary Work in Process
Exhibition, Erno Vroonen moderated several ' Artists Talks' during the sommer of 2021.
From November 2021 till February 2022 he curated the Show " EXIT WIEN "
for BELLEPARAIS and ' Achtzehnkommazwei ', both artspaces in Münich.
Participating artists:
Jochen Höller, Ömer Faruk Kaplan, Peter Moosgaard, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair
and Wolfgang Wirth.
Since January 2023 Erno Vroonen decided to continue his activity as a senior curatorial
advisor for the " Kunst - und Kulturtstiftung Siebeneichler " / Tegernsee
and for the " Achtzehnkommazwei " Projectspace / in the Georgenstrasse 72 in Munich.
Together with three other curators, Tom Angermeier, Erika Wäcker-Babnik and Stefan Graupner this 18,2 square meter space in the artcenter of Munich will be used as a thinkthank for artists and artlovers. A regular programm with small exhibitions is also planed. The first show presented the work of Jep Goldstein ( born 1980 in Argentina )
and is curated by Tom Angermeier ( untill mid. February 2023 ).
From 17. of March untill 23. of April two Photo-Dyptics by Stefanie Höll were shown together with three small paintings by her grandfather the artist Werner Höll who died in 1984. The exhibition was called " Temporary Setup 1-6 / Zerrissenes Gewissen "
and was curated by Erno Vroonen.
In Summer 2023 a Pop Up Event took place at Gut Kaltenbrunn in Gmund am Tegernseee. Invited by the Kulturstiftung Siebeneichler, Erno Vroonen curated the exhibition " Ouvertüre 2023 ". For five days, during the International Musikfest Tegernsee one could admire the work of eight prominent artists from the South of Bavaria: Ruth Effer, Klaus-Peter Frank, Philipp Lachenmann, Sybille Rath, Peter Riss, Brigitte Siebeneichler, Michael von Brentano and Bruno Wank.
*** " A glass of Champagne ? How much event does the art really needs ? " is the title of a series of open discussions by the four curators of the artspace 18,2. on the 8 th. 9th. and 10th. of September 2023. Each afternoon from 2pm till 6pm the public is invited to join in. ***
Beginning of 2024 Erno Vroonen decided to stop his activities for Artspace 18,2. His last contribution is the exhibition with new Paintings by Munich based artist Sybille Rath. The exhibition goes untill the end of March. On Wednesday 27th. of March their will be a special Finnisage, starting at 6 PM.
From April 2024 of Erno Vroonen joins the Team of KMSKA ( Royal Museum of Fine Arts
Antwerp / Belgum ) as a senior independent curatorial advisor for Contemporary Art.
For that reason he will be more often in Flandern and less in Bayern.
For summer 2024 he co-curates the Exhibition " What's the story ? " together with chief-curator KMSKA , Nico Van Hout.
" What's the Story ? " Part 1 is open for the public from 16. of August till 17. of November 2024. The artists are Chantal Akerman, Jean Brusselmans, David Claerbout, George Condo, Raoul De Keyser, Matthias Dornfeld, Thomas Houseago, Mark Manders, Katharina Pepijn, Leon Spilleart, Koen van den Broek en Rik Wouters.
" What's the Story ? " Part 2 takes place from 23. November 2024 till 09. February 2025 featuring following artists Evelyne Axel, Maen Florin, Kati Heck, Jacob Jordaens, Jozef Legrand, Jan Massys, Constant Permeke, Rinus Van De Velde, Annemie Van Kerckhoven en Liliane Vertessen.
Erno Vroonen, who is fluent in 5 languages, provides professional and individually aligned art services due to his longtime experience and contacts within the international art world.