Haiss, Bettina

Bettina Haiss (*1975) is a freelance art historian, author and curator based in Cologne. After spending her childhood and youth in Puerto Rico and growing up trilingual, she moved to Germany where she concluded her scholarly education with the Abitur. Afterwards she studied Art History, English and Romance languages and literature in Cologne. She has written numerous exhibition reviews and catalogue contributions on contemporary art, including the work of Georg Herold, Andi Fischer, Michael Growe, Andreas Gefeller, and Matthew Barney. As an exhibition curator she realized “The Unstrung Harp” (with Thomas Grünfeld), “Poesie des Gärtnerns. The Garden as Metaphor and Artistic Field” and “Les Fleurs du Mal” (both with Dr. Birgit Kulmer, Bonn) for Parrotta Contemporary Art Gallery. Her research interests concentrate on artistic creation processes and the body as material and medium of expression. Most recently, she conceptualised the ‘Garden Academy’ at the Kunsthaus NRW in Aachen-Kornelimünster, an event dedicated to the possibilities of the sculpture garden ranging between close proximity to nature and the artificial staging of art. Together with Kathrin Luz she She is currently working as an editor at large for the catalogue accompanying the exhibition “Alfredo Jaar. The End of the World” at KINDL Berlin.