Chus Martinez on Art as Intelligence, Curatorial Activism, and the Oracle of Democratic Possibility
“Chus Martínez leads the Institute Art Gender Nature at FHNW Academy of Arts and Design in Basel. Born in Spain with a background in philosophy and art history, she has established herself as one of Europe’s most influential contemporary art curators and cultural theorists.
Martínez served as expedition leader for The Current, a ground breaking project by TBA21–Academy from 2018 to 2020, and directed Ocean Space in Venice from 2020 to 2022. These oceanic initiatives inspired Art is Ocean, her ongoing seminar series examining artists’ roles in reconceptualising humanity’s relationship with nature. At her institute, she leads The Gender’s Factor, a research project investigating education’s role in advancing women’s equality within the arts.
Her curatorial career spans major international institutions. She worked as chief curator at El Museo Del Barrio in New York and served as head of department for dOCUMENTA(13) in 2012. Previous positions include chief curator at MACBA Barcelona, director of Frankfurter Kunstverein, and artistic director of Sala Rekalde in Bilbao. She has curated national pavilions for Catalonia and Cyprus at the Venice Biennale and contributed to the Istanbul Biennial, Carnegie International, and Bienal de São Paulo.”
