[1][3] Van der Marck arrived in the United States in 1957, after receiving a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to study museums and was able to learn from Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University.

[1][6] In 1969, van der Marck hosted the exhibition Art by Telephone, where artists would call in the instructions on how to build and display their artwork.

[7] While he was in Chicago, van der Marck invited two unknown artists at the time, Christo and Jeanne-Claude to wrap the museum building in canvas.

[9] He caused a controversy by placing an oversized sculpture X-Delta by Mark di Suvero in the middle of a highly trafficked part of campus.

[6] In 1995, van der Marck was fired from his role due to a residency violation, he was required to live in Detroit and he was spending significant time in Huntington Woods instead.