Berlin beckons for the director of Tate Modern, Chris Dercon, who is due to be officially named as the next artistic director of the Volksbühne (People’s Theatre) later today. The announcement comes after much speculation in Germany—and some opposition—to the Belgian-born curator succeeding Frank Castrof, the prestigious theatre’s longstanding artistic director.
Michael Müller, Berlin’s mayor, confirmed the appointment in the capital’s parliament yesterday, 24 April, saying: "I am delighted that Chris Dercon will come to Berlin in 2017." The mayor and Dercon are due to present their plans for the Volksbühne this afternoon in Berlin.
Dercon, who has been the director of Tate Modern since 2011, will therefore remain in London until summer 2017, leaving after its £215m Herzog and de Meuron-designed extension opens, which is due to take place next year.
Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate, praised Dercon for helping to open Tate Modern to a wider world through his support for a more international programme, photography, live performance and film. As well as championing performance art, Dercon has also helped expand the definition of Modernism at Tate beyond traditional Western boundaries, acquiring, for example Benin-born Meschac Gaba's Museum of Contemporary African (1997–ongoing), which the gallery lent to Berlin’s Deutsche Bank KunstHalle last September.
In a statement Serota says: “We look forward to working with [Dercon] on the opening of the new Tate Modern and until he takes up his appointment in Berlin.” Dercon’s departure, albeit in two years' time, follows news that the director of Tate Britain, Penelope Curtis, is leaving also. She is due to take the helm of Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Museum this summer.
Speculation about Dercon’s appointment has sparked a dispute over the future of the Berlin theatre scene. Several renowned theatre directors, including the outgoing artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble, Claus Peymann, fear Berlin’s mayor is trying to turn the traditional theatre into an “events venue”. According to reports in German media, the Volksbühne’s budget will be increased from €5m to €22m and part of the former airport Tempelhof will be used by the Mitte-based theatre. At Tate Modern Dercon has had to manage its share of cuts in government funding.
Dercon, who studied art history, theatre and film theory in Amsterdam, was an arts journalist before he became a curator. Before Tate Modern, Dercon was the director of Munich’s Haus der Kunst. The founding director of the Witte de With contemporary art centre in Rotterdam, he also directed the city’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.