In Conversation : Liesl Raff & Daniel Hug

Liesl Raff
b. 1979 in Stuttgart, Germany. Lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
Liesl Raff's sculptural work explores notions of human relationships, social ties and behavioural roles through a reflection on seriality and plasticity. These concerns are clear in the choice and composition of particular materials, such as latex, which she uses both for painting, as a liquid applied to walls, and for sculpture, where she uses it in solidified form to create objects. Liesl Raff's installations invite physical interaction and collective experimentation.

Daniel Claude Hug (born 1968 in Zurich) has been director of the Art Cologne art fair since 2008. After working in the art world in Los Angeles, he returned to Chicago in 1994 and went into the art business. With his RX Gallery, he was admitted to Art Chicago, and became a member of the admission committee in 2000 and 2001. With artist Michael Hall, he ran the Chicago Project Room (CPR), where they exhibited artists such as Candice Breitz, Helen Mirra, Muntean/Rosenblum and Gerwald Rockenschaub.
In 2003, Hug moved his art business to Los Angeles' Chinatown district, under the name Daniel Hug Gallery, and represented young artists from the United States, Germany and Poland, notably in collaboration with the Berlin gallery Baudach. He took part in the Liste - The Young Art Fair in Basel, as he had already done with the CPR, and participated in Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Forum Berlin and Art Chicago. At the same time, he participated in and advised Art LA, the Los Angeles art fair. He has also worked for the Moholy-Nagy Foundation, developing his contacts with collectors, art museums and classic modern art galleries. In 2007, he was a member of the Open Space jury at Art Cologne. On 1 May 2008, Hug was appointed director of the Art Cologne art fair, succeeding Gérard Goodrow. Since 2019, he has also been director of Cologne Fine Art.