urKultur is an international consultancy, specialising in site-specific art commissions, campaigns and specially-curated programmes.
Ruth Ur
Founder
Ruth Ur, founder of urKultur, has over 20 years of international experience initiating and running flagship cultural projects. Ruth held senior leadership positions at the British Council, including postings to Israel (2003-06) and Turkey (2007-10) and set up new departments such as Arts & Development and European Partnerships. As Director of the UK/India Year of Culture in 2017, Ruth curated the first-ever artwork to cover the entire façade of Buckingham Palace. She was the Curator of the British Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2002) and Director of My City: 5 Public Art Commissions (2008-10). Ruth has worked in some of the world's most politically challenging environments, including North Africa during the Arab Spring and South Sudan. Educated at King's College, Cambridge, and at the Courtauld Institute in London, Ruth is now based in Berlin. Alongside urKultur, Ruth is Director of the German Friends of Yad Vashem and member of the Board of the ExilMuseum.
Associates
Julia Kaschlinski
Julia Kaschlinski is a qualified architect and designer. She has designed extensively for theatre, both costume and sets, and has worked with some of Europe’s leading theatres and renowned directors. She also designs interiors and develops spaces for artistic interventions. In 2017 -2018 Julia designed the spatial concept for the lab and symposium `Welche Zukunft?´, a co-production between the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Humboldtforum. Julia was born in Riga, raised in West Berlin, and studied Architecture at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
Yigal Schleifer
Yigal Schleifer is a writer, curator and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Culinary Backstreets. Created in 2012, Culinary Backstreets covers the local and traditional food scene and offers immersive small group culinary experiences in 16 cities around the world. Between 2002 and 2010 Yigal was based in Istanbul as correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and the English-language service of the German Press Agency (dpa), covering both Turkish and regional affairs. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Ha’aretz and several other publications. Yigal is based in Washington, DC.