Barnabás Bencsik, born 1964, curator and gallerist lives and works in Budapest. He gained his degree in literature and history, later in history of art from the ELTE University Budapest. He became involved in the changing period of the Hungarian post-communist art scene from the early 90’s. From 1990 to 1999 he run the Studio Gallery, Budapest the exhibition venue of the Studio of Young Artists Association. Parallel, he was visual arts program-coordinator at Soros Center for Contemporary Arts–Budapest between 1993 –1995, when the CEE network was established. He worked as the head of the Trafo Gallery, Budapest (1999–2001) and as chief curator in Műcsarnok| Kunsthalle, where he contributed to the project at the Hungarian Pavilion of 49th Venice Biennale. In 2001 he started to work as the artistic director of the first private collection which run an exhibition space in a former industrial building called MEO–Contemporary Art Collection, Budapest and from 2002 to 2008 he acted as an independent curator. Since he has been involved in various visual art projects and exhibitions. In 2006 he curated the opening exhibition of MODEM, Debrecen and conceived the exhibition strategy of the new institution. He initiated and from 2006 he is the director of ACAX | Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange, which is an office to support and develop various type of cooperation between the local and the international art scene. He was the director of Ludwig Museum–Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest between 2008-2013, but because of the radical shift in the Hungarian cultural policy, he was not re-appointed. After years of freelancing and working on non-profit projects. In 2017 he started to run with a joined business partner a commercial gallery in Budapest called Glassyard intending to provide a sustainable platform for international visibility of the regional art scene.
