With his high-concept, often political programming, it was perhaps not a surprise that the exhibition Nicolaus Schafhausen curated for this year’s German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale – by artist Isa Genzken – would be called Oil. The Dusseldorf-born curator has been an important figure in the European art scene for a number of years, particularly in Germany, where he was head of the Frankfurter Kunstverein from 1999 to 2005. During those years he transformed the exhibition space into a major centre for German ideas, through such shows as Neue Welt, Neu Heimat, non-places (2001–2), a trio on the subject of globalisation, and the popular deutschemalereizweitausenddrei (2003), which looked at painting’s resurgence among young German artists. In 2005 he was also one of the organisers of the important touring exhibition Populism (2005), and was last year appointed director of Witte de With in Rotterdam, succeeding Catherine David. In addition to helming the Witte de With he is presently also working with the organisation Das Loch to set up the European Kunsthalle in Cologne.