[2] In this gallery he showed artists such as John Baldessari, Herbert Brandl, Ilya Kabakow, Mike Kelly, Martin Kippenberger, Sol LeWitt, Albert Oehlen, Franz West and Heimo Zobernig.

In 1986 Pakesch and the Austrian cultural politician Helmut Strobl founded the Grazer Kunstverein, which he also led as the artistic director until 1988.

[3] In collaboration with Hubert Klocker, Pakesch organized the project Protect Me From What I Want, a cooperation between Jenny Holzer and Keith Haring for the Vienna Festival.

In 2015 the Vienna Museum would do an exhibition about this time titled Ballgasse 6, Galerie pakesch und die Kunstszene der 80er.

Over his 12 years as a Galerist he managed to push Austrian artists such as Franz West and Heimo Zobernig to international fame.

1996 he took over as the Director of the Kunsthalle Basel, where he gave many young artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Michel Majerus and Paweł Althamer their first Institutional Exhibitions.