Frequently Asked Questions

About Benjamin Kändler

Who is Benjamin Kändler?

Benjamin Kändler is a curator and heritage consultant based in London, working across the arts, culture, heritage and creative tech sectors, with a specialism in the creative potential of emerging technologies and new media art. He consults through Alix Slater Consultancy & Training on Activity Plans, interpretation planning and exhibition design for museums and heritage organisations, and is co-founder of Graham + Kändler, an agency bridging art, culture and commerce. He was formerly Global Lead for Digital Art at Phillips Auctioneers, and holds a BA in History of Art from Goldsmiths, University of London.

What is your background in digital and new media art?

I led digital art globally at Phillips Auctioneers, directing sales and projects across Hong Kong, New York, Paris and London, and setting the auction record for a physical work by Vera Molnar in 2022. I have worked with artists including Refik Anadol, Tyler Hobbs, Herbert W. Franke, Harold Cohen, Anna Ridler and Harm van den Dorpel, and have sat on the Lumen Prize's International Selectors Committee since 2025. My current research spans digital heritage, network theory, eco-materialism and cyber-physical systems engineering.

Where do you work?

I am based in London and work with museums and heritage organisations across the UK. I also take on international projects - particularly in Copenhagen, Paris and wider France, Switzerland and Italy - and am open to work worldwide. Much of the early-stage work happens remotely, with site visits planned around the moments in a project where being on the ground matters most.

Activity Plans & the National Lottery Heritage Fund

Activity planning for funded heritage projects - learning, participation and engagement.

What is an Activity Plan?

An Activity Plan sets out how a heritage project will engage people: the learning, participation and community programmes that run alongside the capital work. It is a core requirement of a National Lottery Heritage Fund application, evidencing who a project is for, what those audiences need, and how the funded activities will reach them. A good Activity Plan turns heritage into a living programme rather than a compliance document.

Do you write Activity Plans for National Lottery Heritage Fund projects?

Yes. Working through Alix Slater Consultancy & Training, I develop Activity Plans for National Lottery Heritage Fund projects at both Development and Delivery stages - from audience research and community consultation through to the costed programme of activities that goes into the submission. The aim is a plan that satisfies the funder and genuinely serves the people a place is for.

What makes a strong Activity Plan?

A strong Activity Plan is evidence-led and deliverable: grounded in real audience research, honest about organisational capacity, and tied to the outcomes the funder is investing in. It should connect learning, participation and engagement to the heritage itself rather than sitting beside it, and it should still make sense to the team who have to run it long after the funding lands.

Interpretation Planning

Telling the right stories, in the right places, for the right people.

What is interpretation planning?

Interpretation planning decides which stories a place or collection tells, where, and for whom. It translates research and collections knowledge into the displays, text, media and experiences a visitor actually encounters, and gives designers and curators a clear framework to work from. Done early, it keeps the narrative intact as a project moves through design and delivery.

How do you approach interpretation for museums and heritage sites?

I start with the audience and the significance of the place, then build an interpretive framework: the key themes and stories, the right media for each, and how they map across the visitor journey. My background as a curator keeps the interpretation anchored in the collection and the scholarship rather than becoming generic.

Exhibition Design

From concept and content through to visitor-focused design.

How do you approach exhibition design?

I work on exhibitions from concept and content development through to visitor-focused design, with narrative, object selection, spatial sequence and interpretation treated as one problem. The test is always the visitor: what they notice, what they understand, and what they remember. That means designing for diverse audiences from the start rather than retrofitting access at the end.

What kinds of exhibitions do you design and curate?

My work spans museum and heritage exhibitions through to contemporary, digital and new media art. As a curator I have led digital art projects globally - formerly as Global Lead for Digital Art at Phillips - working with artists across generative and new media practice; as a heritage consultant I bring that curatorial judgement to galleries, historic sites and funded capital projects. The common thread is a clear story told through a considered visitor experience.

Do you take on independent curatorial projects?

Yes. Alongside my consulting work I take on independent curatorial projects in London and internationally, working with emerging and established artists across contemporary, generative and new media practice. Recent exhibitions have brought digital and new media work into gallery settings; the starting point is always the work itself and the story an exhibition needs to tell.

Working Together

How do I commission an Activity Plan, interpretation plan or exhibition?

Get in touch through the contact page with a short outline of the project: the site or collection, where you are in the funding process, rough timing, and budget if you have one - and I will come back to discuss how to approach it. Enquiries are welcome from museums, heritage organisations, funders and private clients, in the UK and internationally. The earlier in a project we speak, the more useful the input tends to be.

Do you also advise on curation and digital art?

Yes. Alongside heritage consulting I advise collectors and institutions on digital and new media art - acquisition, contextualisation, provenance, display and long-term stewardship - drawing on my time as Global Lead for Digital Art at Phillips. Artist and brand collaborations run through Graham + Kändler, the agency bridging art, culture and commerce that I co-founded.