Stefanie Hessler is to head up the Swiss Institute in New York, taking over from the outgoing director Simon Castets.
Hessler is currently director at Kunsthall Trondheim in Norway, having previously been curator of TBA21–Academy in Vienna and London, a private interdisciplinary art and research platform with a focus on the oceans. She has worked on numerous biennials, group and solo exhibitions, most recently the 2020 Momenta Biennale, titled Sensing Nature, in Montreal. In 2018 she curated the 6th Athens Biennale.
The German-born curator’s work has often focused on practices from the Global South, as well as Indigenous art. An occasional contributor to ArtReview, she has written on the work of Brazilian artist Tamar Guimarães, the art scene in Cuba, and the art ecology of Cali, Colombia.
Hessler, who will start in May, said ‘My guiding question for SI’s next phase is: In our time of social and environmental urgency, how do we enrich and expand its programming, networks, and actions to collaboratively reimagine ways of thinking, doing, and living together?’
Castets is to become director of strategic initiatives at LUMA Arles, the private foundation of pharmaceuticals billionaire Maja Hoffmann, who is president of the Swiss Institute board. Alongside her, Castets maintain ties with the institution as executive chair of the board.
