Born in Suceava, Romania, in 1962. He has lived in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1974. After studying literature and political science at the Free University Berlin he was guest professor for art theory and art communication at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, the Kunstunversität Linz, and the Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan. He has belonged to the executive teams of many cultural projects, including the project weitergehen by the Kulturbehörde Hamburg (1999) and the Kokerei Zollverein, Essen (2001–03). In 2005 he curated the exhibitions "The New Europe" in the Generali Foundation, Vienna; "Handlungsformate" at the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; and the Romanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He has edited numerous publications and exhibition catalogues, most recently Die Offene Stadt (The Open City, 2003). He authored Ware Subjektivität: Eine Theorie-Novelle (Subjectivity as a Commodity: A Theory Novella, 2002) and Berlin: Die Spur der Revolte (Berlin: The Trace of the Revolt, 2006). In 1996 he received the Carl Einstein Prize for art criticism. He lives in Berlin.