Photography: Francien Jonge Poerink

Christiane Berndes studied fine arts at the Jan van Eyck Academy (Maastricht) as well as art history at Utrecht University. She has sincwe worked as an assistant curator at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam) and the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven). Since 1997 she is the curator of collections at the Van Abbemuseum. She also is a member of the steering committee of the SBMK (Foundation for The Conservation of Contemporary Art).

As curator of collections Berndes has organised several exhibitions of the museum's collections: One on One (2004), Nederland niet Nederland (2004-5), What Happened to Art (2006) and Plug In; Re-Imagining the Collection (2006-2009). Currently, she is the curator and project leader for Play Van Abbe, an 18-month project on the museum's collections, during which exhibitions, commissions, projects, lectures, publications and a symposium will be presented.