Our Team
Laurie De Chiara
Co-Founder and Director
Laurie was born and raised in New York City. Currently living in the Hudson Valley in New York and running ArtPort Kingston, a multi-venue contemporary art center. From 1997-2002 she was the owner/director of the De Chiara|Stewart Gallery in New York City and from 2001-2006 she co-owned müllerdechiara galerie in Berlin. During her tenure in Berlin 2001-2014, international art exchanges became pivotal in her work and led to her co-founded ArtPod in 2010. She is an independent curator with an MA degree in Contemporary Arts / Arts Management from New York University. Early in her career she worked in various art spaces and museums, including the New Museum in NYC, Children's Museum of Manhattan, designing and developing exhibitions. She has curated exhibitions at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Sølyst Art Center in Denmark, Kunstverein Göttingen and several private galleries in the US and Europe.
www.dechiaraprojects.space | laurie@artportkingston.com
Stefan Saffer
Creative Director
Stefan was born in Forchheim, Germany. He received his Meisterschueler from the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg in 1996 and an MA from Goldsmiths University in London in 1998. He has had stipends for projects in Krakow, New York City and London. After studying he attended the Bauhaus Kolleg in Dessau in 2003 and the Whitney ISP Program in New York in 2004. Saffer is an actively practicing artist, and his work includes paper-cuts, installations and social engagement. From 1996-2005 he was one of the founding members of the PublicWorks group in London, an art and architecture collaborative. His works have been shown at the ICA, London, Lenbachhaus, Munich, Galerie Barbara Gross, and the Andrea Rosen Gallery. He has additionally had solo exhibitions with Kate MacGarry London, müllerdechiara, and the Villa Grisebach Gallery, Berlin.
www.stefansaffer.com | safferstefan@gmail.com
Dustin Schnek
Dustin was born in Kassel, Germany he is "ArtPod`s Universal Tool", wearing many hats. Dustin works across media as an artist, illustrator, graphic designer, educator or craftsmen. His studio practices ranges from painting to robotics. He has been active in the street art scene for 20 years. He has worked for the Framework Programme of Documenta since 2001 as an artist assistant and art handler. He is known to pop up where he needs to be and living where he works, including Berlin, Hamburg, Madrid, and New York.
Anne Hector
Communications Coordinator
Anne grew up in Dresden and has been interested in art since her childhood. After studying German and Slavic Languages and Literatures in Leipzig and the USA, she is now working in Berlin as a lecturer, editor, and translator. She has published reviews for films and novels as well as interviews with artists. For Artpod, she talked to artists about their work, wrote texts, and translated oral interviews and written documents.