<Robert></Punkenhofer>
Robert Punkenhofer, born 1965 in Austria, lives and works in Vienna. After receiving his Doctorate in International Public Law and his secondary degree in export marketing, at the Karl Franzens University in Austria he graduated as Master in Arts in Visual Arts Management at New York University in 1993.After completing his academic and professional training (Guggenheim Museum, Exit Art/The First World in New York, Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna), he started a career in both business and culture, connecting these often very separate domains.
In 1995 he became founder and Director of ART&IDEA, an institution for contemporary art that has presented more than 80 exhibitions, publications and special projects in Mexico, the US, Spain, Germany, Japan and Austria since its inception, amongst others the visionary Mur Island project with Vito Acconci, and a special art edition series for the leading German weekly Die Zeit. Since 2005 Punkenhofer is artistic director of Vienna Art Week and in 2008 he conceived and realized Flow – Festival of Culture and Science in Novi Sad, Serbia.
In parallel, from 1994 to 1997 he served as Deputy Trade Commissioner of Austria in Mexico, Cuba and Central America. He then returned to Vienna and consulted Casinos Austria International in the field of new project development in Argentina and Brazil. In 1998 he rejoined the Foreign Trade Department of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and was posted as Deputy Trade Commissioner in New York and Berlin.
From 2002 to 2004 Punkenhofer worked as managing director of the Austrian Design Foundation in Vienna. Since 2003 Punkenhofer also manages and curates Austria´s participation at the World Fairs 2005 in Aichi, Japan, 2008 in Zaragossa, Spain and 2010 in Shanghai, China. In addition, he is in charge of the creative industry initiative, the Export Day and the EU-LAC Business Summit, all for the Austrian Foreign Trade Department in the period from 2005 through 2008.
Punkenhofer regularly lectures on topics such as arts management and international business. He has published several books and catalogues, amongst others “Acconci - Mur Island” as well as “10 Years ART&IDEA – Connecting Different Worlds”, both at Hatje Cantz and “Unternehmensgründung USA” at Springer Publishers.