Since the early 1990's, Hans Ulrich Obrist has conducted 1400 hours of interviews with over 400 artists, scientists, architects, writers, composers and other influential figures in contemporary arts and culture. A central component of his curatorial practice, Obrist's interviews are both rigorously interdisciplinary and publicly engaged. In substance, they seek a deep understanding of the social architecture of the city and its incredibly diverse and overlapping domains of cultural production. In practice - as his conversations perform various and multiple future functions in books, exhibitions, marathons, and other projects - they make public this knowledge, collecting and sharing an ongoing oral history of art and culture bridging the 20th and 21st centuries.

During his tenure as Senior Fellow, Hans Ulrich Obrist will further his lifelong Interviews project with a particular focus on New York—revisiting past New York interviews conducted over the last fifteen years and initiating a new series of interviews with New York figures who have played critical roles in shaping the cityscape.