What role do books play in shaping a life devoted to art?

In this bonus episode of Compelling, host Katy Wellesley Wesley speaks with Staffan Ahrenberg, owner and publisher of Cahiers d'Art, for a quick-fire conversation about the books, habits and dreams that define his approach to art and life. He discusses the formative impact of Malevich's The Non-Objective World and Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art, as well as novels such as Camus's L'Étranger and García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Staffan also reveals his unrealised architectural ambitions, including building the Le Corbusier museum originally commissioned by his father in 1962 but never constructed due to political opposition in Stockholm, and creating a library designed by Thomas Schütte in a Swedish forest. He explains his daily practice of rewriting handwritten notes as a mnemonic device, why physical movement matters, and offers powerful advice: be curious and act on that curiosity without hesitation, even when asking provocative questions to Nobel Prize winners or major artists.

Staffan Ahrenberg: Swedish art collector, entrepreneur and film producer, Staffan Ahrenberg is the owner and publisher of Cahiers d’Art, the historic Parisian publishing house and gallery he relaunched in 2012. He has revitalised its revered revue, book and limited‑edition programmes, and co‑founded the nonprofit Cahiers d’Art Institute to publish catalogues raisonnés for leading 20th‑ and 21st‑century artists.

Katy Wellesley Wesley: With over 18 years of leadership across galleries, foundations, and startups, Katy has built a career shaped by curiosity and a drive to explore new ideas. She spent a decade at leading commercial galleries—first at Gagosian, then at Pace, where she was Director of Exhibitions in London. She went on to lead the Villa Lena Foundation in Italy as Director, before joining the founding team of ROKBOX, a pioneering environmentally focused art logistics startup, as Sales Director. After relocating to Paris six years ago, Katy developed a strong interest in the intersection of art and luxury. To deepen this focus, she recently completed an Executive Master’s in Luxury Management and Design Innovation, a joint program between ESSEC Business School and Parsons School of Design. She now works as a consultant to brands, artists, foundations, and collectors. Among her clients is the legendary art publisher Cahiers d’Art, where she heads Commercial Partnerships.

Compelling is proudly in partnership with Cahiers d’Art.

Compelling is produced in collaboration with Cahiers d’Art, the iconic Paris-based art publisher founded in 1926, home of the Catalogue Raisonné of Picasso and most recently the Frank Gehry Drawings Catalogue Raisonné. At the heart of it's publishing program is the Cahiers d'Art Revue, one of the most significant and longest-standing annual art publications of the last century. In 2026, Cahiers d’Art will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a series of major publications, projects and exhibitions in collaboration with leading global institutions, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the MoMA in New York City and the Musée Picasso in Paris.

Visit Cahiers d’Art

Art direction by Eddie Harrop Studio
Website and Production by Story Ninety-Four
Filmed and recorded by Marque Page Studio

What role should books and digital experiences play in the future of art institutions?

In this bonus episode of Compelling, host Katy Wellesley Wesley sits down with Daniel Birnbaum, director of Acute Art and former director of Moderna Museet, for a quick-fire conversation about life, art and ambition. They explore the books and writers that shaped his thinking—particularly Italo Calvino—and discuss his dream of creating a digital home for major VR and AR artworks commissioned with artists such as Mark Leckey, Cao Fei and Jeff Koons.

With immersive art experiences expanding globally, Daniel explains why the future will be a hybrid mixed-reality world where physical objects and digital tools coexist. He also addresses the risks of living in a post-truth era where fiction and reality merge in political spheres, and why artists have always navigated this terrain. Above all, he offers simple but powerful advice: do only what you find interesting, because if you don't find it compelling, nobody else will.

Daniel Birnbaum: Daniel Birnbaum is a writer and curator based in Paris and Stockholm. From 2000 to 2010 he was rector of the Städelschule in Frankfurt and director of its Portikus gallery. Between 2010 and 2018 he was director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm. In 2009 he curated the the 53rd Venice Biennial. His most recent exhibition is Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint. Dreams of the Future at K20 in Düsseldorf (with Julia Voss) and Dream Machines at DESTE Foundation (with Massimiliano Gioni). Recent publications include Exhibition, Academy, Museum: Notes on the Frames of Art (Walther König, 2022) and the novel Dr B (Gallimard, 2022). In 2024 Birnbaum joined the Warburg Institute’s Visionary Circle.

Katy Wellesley Wesley: With over 18 years of leadership across galleries, foundations, and startups, Katy has built a career shaped by curiosity and a drive to explore new ideas. She spent a decade at leading commercial galleries—first at Gagosian, then at Pace, where she was Director of Exhibitions in London. She went on to lead the Villa Lena Foundation in Italy as Director, before joining the founding team of ROKBOX, a pioneering environmentally focused art logistics startup, as Sales Director. After relocating to Paris six years ago, Katy developed a strong interest in the intersection of art and luxury. To deepen this focus, she recently completed an Executive Master’s in Luxury Management and Design Innovation, a joint program between ESSEC Business School and Parsons School of Design. She now works as a consultant to brands, artists, foundations, and collectors. Among her clients is the legendary art publisher Cahiers d’Art, where she heads Commercial Partnerships.

Compelling is proudly in partnership with Cahiers d’Art.

Compelling is produced in collaboration with Cahiers d’Art, the iconic Paris-based art publisher founded in 1926, home of the Catalogue Raisonné of Picasso and most recently the Frank Gehry Drawings Catalogue Raisonné. At the heart of it's publishing program is the Cahiers d'Art Revue, one of the most significant and longest-standing annual art publications of the last century. In 2026, Cahiers d’Art will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a series of major publications, projects and exhibitions in collaboration with leading global institutions, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the MoMA in New York City and the Musée Picasso in Paris.

Visit Cahiers d’Art

Art direction by Eddie Harrop Studio
Website and Production by Story Ninety-Four
Filmed and recorded by Marque Page Studio

Happy holidays! Thank you for listening to Compelling.

I've really enjoyed the first six episodes and I hope you have too.

A huge thank you to my early guests on the podcast for their trust, time and inspiring conversations: Lena Evstafieva, Lee Shulman, Clemente Boisseau, Charlotte Bouygues, Staffan Arhenberg, Daniel Birnbaum, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Camille Miceli.

If you've enjoyed what you've heard, please do share, like and subscribe. I'm also really happy to hear thoughts, suggestions, or ways to improve so please get in touch with me at katy@thecompellingpodcast.com.

Additionally, you can find out all the latest news on the website and you can also find Compelling on Instagram at @TheCompellingPodcast and on LinkedIn.

Happy holidays, thank you very much, and I look forward to starting the conversation again in 2026.