Since 1983 he has worked as a curator and project director for various museums. Between 1994 and 2000 he directed the media museum at the ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe and was at the same time professor of art history at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe. Since March 2000, Hans-Peter Schwarz is the rector of the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich/Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. The main emphasis of his numerous publications lies in architecture and art history as well as in the cultural history of the modern.