Melanie Bono

Melanie Bono, born 1977 in Hanover, is associate director and curator on contemporary art at LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster.

Bono studied sociology and art history in Tübingen and Stuttgart; her M.A. thesis focused on the contemporaneous development of avant-garde and straight photography, using the examples of László Moholy-Nagy and Albert Renger-Patzsch in Germany. Upon graduating she completed an internship at the Archipenko Foundation in New York before taking up a post as a research assistant at the NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein in September 2004. Here she became involved with running the exhibition programme and was put in charge of organizing a solo exhibition by Michael Stevenson (2005) and producing the video piece “Butterfly Jackpot” by Pablo Zuleta Zahr (2006). In 2006 Melanie Bono was appointed director of the EU project “After Cage. 24 Collections in motion”, based in Maastricht. Involving 28 institutions from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, the cross-cultural project set out to explore new forms of institutional networking and transnational cooperation.

From January 2007 up to end of 2009 Melanie Bono has been director of the NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein. She maintains a programmatic approach in her work with artists who address the legacy of the avant-garde, presenting solo exhibitions by artists such as Albrecht Schäfer, Diango Hernandez and Nairy Baghramian. The programme of the Kunstverein also includes thematic group shows and experimental initiatives by the likes of Pieterjan Ginckels, Jimmy Robert or Wolfgang Müller. In 2008 the Kunstverein’s annual programme was honoured by the Kunststiftung NRW (Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia).

In addition to her work at the NAK, Melanie Bono has taught a course on “Positionen der Gegenwartskunst” (Positions within contemporary art) at RWTH Aachen University since 2008.