Udo Kittelmann (b. 1958) is a German curator and museum director. From 1993 to 1994, he served as artistic director at the Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, after which he took over the leadership of the Kölnischer Kunstverein until 2001. In 2002, he became the director of the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) in Frankfurt, where he remained for six years. From 2008 to 2020, Kittelmann was the director of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, which encompasses six museums. Since 2021, he has been the artistic director of the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden. Kittelmann was the commissioner and curator of the German Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennale, where he was awarded the Golden Lion for Gregor Schneider’s 'Totes Haus u r'. At the 55th Venice Biennale, he curated the Russian Pavilion, featuring Vadim Zakharov’s installation 'Danaë'. His extensive work is characterized by a continual questioning of curatorial practice and the institutional handling of art. This inquiry goes beyond aesthetic dimensions, engaging with an awareness of the socio-political context relevant to each project.
