by David Sokol

In 2008, after holding several positions in design publishing and communications in both Rotterdam and New York, David van der Leer shifted gears, becoming the first member of the Guggenheim Museum’s architecture and urban studies–focused curatorial team. At the Guggenheim, van der Leer steered the museum on a course of public outreach on city-related issues, including the BMW Guggenheim Lab, the recently concluded project in which experts and residents in New York, Berlin, and Mumbai discussed life in their cities.