Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) was born in Dresden, Germany. He studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and then the Düsseldorf Art Academy. His work has been the subject of exhibitions internationally, including touring retrospectives at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Tate, London; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, among many others. Richter has experimented with sculpture, photography, drawing and, notably, painting. Aided by the diversity of his media, the artist has continuously examined the nature of imagery, highlighting in particular the contingency of representation.

Hans Ulrich Obrist (b. 1968) is a world-renowned curator and the artistic director of the Serpentine galleries in London. Alongside his curatorial practice, Obrist has written extensively on and around contemporary art, with a particular interest in the interview format.