Mareike Opeña graduated from the Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, Germany in 2009 with a Diplom thesis on solvent effects on physical properties of polymeric films, and a Master thesis on ethics and multiculturalism in conservation of contemporary art in 2017.
Since working at Contemporary Conservation from 2010 to 2021, she has been freelancing in the New York City art market environment since 2022.
Mareike is co-founding member of AIC’s Contemporary Art Network (CAN!) and served as Program Chair and Assistant Program Chair for AIC’s Annual Meetings in 2019 and 2020.
Since 2019 she is researching contemporary art conservation in private practice as an external PhD candidate under supervision of Dr. Vivian van Saaze, at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University.