Jan Verwoert is a Berlin based, internationally renowned art critic and sometimes curator. He is a member of the advisory board of the Munich Kunstverein and has been a guest professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at the Academy of Umeå, Sweden, and the Royal College of Art, London. Since 2005 he has been a tutor and leader of the Imagined Communities seminar at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam. Verwoert is a contributing editor to Frieze magazine and also writes regularly about contemporary art for Afterall, Metropolis M, Springerin, and artists’ catalogues. He is author of Bas Jan Ader: In Search of the Miraculous (One Work) (2006) published by MIT Press/Afterall Books, and recently co-curated Yes, No & Other Options for the contemporary art festival Art Sheffield 08. In the summer of 2009, Verwoert led the Why Are Conceptual Artists Painting Again? Because They Think it is a Good Idea residency at The Banff Centre.