Katharina Worf is a London-based curator and advisor building ambitious projects that link public commissions with cultural strategy and art collecting.
Katharina Worf is a London-based curator, cultural producer, and art consultant whose work spans public art, performance, and cultural strategy. Born in Germany, she has spent the past two decades shaping contemporary art in public spaces, commissioning site-specific works and curating projects that prioritise accessibility, diversity, and sustainability. She has collaborated with leading cultural institutions across Europe – including the Hamburger Bahnhof and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, and Temporaere Kunsthalle Berlin – and presented artists at major international art fairs. Katharina has also shaped the creative direction of a private foundation in Vienna and managed artists’ studios. Drawing on this broad experience, she now works as an art consultant, bringing her deep understanding of the European and UK arts sectors into each project she undertakes.
Her curatorial practice is rooted in collaboration and context, transforming public and unconventional spaces, from underground stations to disused car parks and swimming pools, into platforms for dialogue, connection and resonant experiences. Fluent in navigating both institutional frameworks and independent initiatives, and having lived and worked in London, Berlin, and Dresden, Katharina holds a nuanced understanding of international perspective and local sensitivity.
Driven by a belief in art’s capacity to foster social connection and lasting cultural impact, Katharina works closely with artists and collaborators, facilitating projects that are as critically engaged as they are socially responsive.
Katharina is Senior Art Consultant and Producer at the Contemporary Art Society *Consultancy (CASC), where she leads major public art commissions and collaborates with teams to develop cultural strategies for universities, local authorities, and urban developments across the UK, including art programme development for the University of Cambridge and the Zoological Society of London.
Alongside her public commissions work, Katharina brings specialist knowledge in art acquisition and collection development. She advises private, corporate and philanthropic collections on building and stewarding contemporary art collections with a research-driven and artist-centred approach. Her advisory work spans supporting emerging artists to guiding long-term strategies, with a focus on cultural value and ethical collecting.
At CASC, she combines public sector experience with art world insight to deliver projects that are artistically ambitious, environmentally conscious and community driven. As co-founder and Chair of the CASC Green Team, she is advancing sustainable practices across the organisation in line with Gallery Climate Coalition.
Since 2019, Katharina has been the Senior Curator and Head of Power Night at E-WERK Luckenwalde – a contemporary art centre generating renewable energy. There, she co-programmes exhibitions and festivals exploring the intersections of art, sustainability, and energy innovation. Notable projects include The Drop Out: Tell Them I Said No, an international festival examining themes of refusal and power, the German premiere of the Golden Lion-winning opera-performance Sun & Sea, staged in a CO₂-neutral abandoned swimming pool. She has contributed to performative interventions linking Berlin and Brandenburg, and leads the interdisciplinary Power Nights festival series, fostering experimental artistic practices that address pressing social and ecological concerns.
Earlier in her career, Katharina co-programmed Block Universe, the internationally acclaimed performance art festival spanning London, Berlin, and Venice. Across three editions, she co-curated over 50 site-specific commissions by artists such as Maria Hassabi, Paul Maheke, Florence Peake, Eglė Budvytytė and Nora Turato. The festival forged strategic partnerships with institutions including the Imperial War Museum, 180 The Strand, Tate Modern, and the Swiss Church, culminating in a major project at the 58th Venice Biennale. She also served as Associate Director at Laura Bartlett Gallery, overseeing more than 45 exhibitions and public art commissions in partnership with institutions including Tate, Serpentine, and LACMA, while supporting the career development of artists like Cyprien Gaillard, John Divola, and Nina Beier.
Katharina draws on her academic training in art history and performance, developed under the guidance of theorist Horst Bredekamp, bringing a deep understanding of socially responsive practices and cross-disciplinary thinking. Katharina holds an MA in History of Art and Visual Studies from Humboldt University, Berlin (specialising in performance art), and a BA in Art History from the Technical University of Dresden (with a focus on 19th- and 20th-century art and modernism).
