Beatrice "Bice" Curiger (born 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland) is a Swiss art historian,

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

and publisher who has been the Artistic Director of the

Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles is a non-profit foundation located in Arles France dedicated to the work and legacy of Vincent van Gogh. Its goal is to generate and promote cultural and artistic activities with reference to the oeuvre of Vincent v ...

since 2013. In 2011 she became only the third woman to curate the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

Early life

Curiger was born in 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland. She studied art history at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

.Mijuk, Goran
"Profile: Venice Biennale Curator Bice Curiger's Tranquil Voice of Reason"
''The Wall Street Journal'', Retrieved 9 May 2014. After graduation she became an art critic at the Swiss daily newspaper ''

Tages-Anzeiger ''Tages-Anzeiger'' (), also abbreviated ''Tagi'' or ''TA'', is a Swiss German-language national daily newspaper published in Zurich, Switzerland. History and profile The paper was first published under the name ''Tages-Anzeiger für Stadt und K ...

''.

Career

Co-Founder and Chief Editor of the

art magazine An art magazine is a publication whose main topic is art. They can be in print form, online, or both and may be aimed at different audiences, including galleries, buyers, amateur or professional artists and the general public. Art magazines can be ...

Parkett Parkett was an international magazine specializing in art. The magazine ceased publication in Summer 2017 with its 100th issue and now continues online as a time capsule and archive with some 270 in-depth artists portraits, artists documents, newsl ...

from Zurich (since 1984); Independent Curator for various international art galleries, museums and exhibitions, including for the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

in Paris (France), the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...

in London (UK), the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

in New York and the 54th

Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(Italy); Curator of the

Kunsthaus Zürich The Kunsthaus Zürich is in terms of area the biggest art museum of Switzerland and houses one of the most important art collections in Switzerland, assembled over the years by the local art association called '. The collection spans from the Medi ...

(1993-2013); Editor of

Tate Etc ''Tate Etc.'' is an arts magazine produced within Britain's Tate organisation of arts and museums. It has the largest circulation of any art magazine in the world. The magazine was edited by Simon Grant from its launch in 2004 until the Autumn 202 ...

. magazine (since 2004); Former Member of the Federal Arts Council; Lecturer at Humboldt-Universität of Berlin (Germany) (2006–07); Artistic Director and Exhibition Curator of the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles (France) (since 2013).

54th Venice Biennale

In 2011 Curiger curated the

54th Venice Biennale The 54th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held in 2011. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Bice Curiger curated its central exhibition, "ILLUMInations". Awards * ...

, which she entitled ''ILLUMinations''. She was the third-ever woman to curate the prestigious event since its inception (Maria de Corral and

Rosa Martinez Rosa Martínez (b. Soria, Spain) is an independent curator, art critic and international art advisor based in Barcelona, Spain. Career As an independent curator, Rosa Martínez has organised international exhibitions, including the 51st Venice Bien ...

co-curated the Biennale in 2005).Fanelli, Franco
"I've included a very well known outsider: Tintoretto!"
''The Art Newspaper'', Retrieved 9 May 2014. Curiger explained that the name of the exhibition was meant to "shed light on the institution itself, drawing attention to dormant and unrecognized opportunities, as well as to conventions that need to be challenged." Curiger asked five open questions to all participating artists: Where do you feel at Home? Does the future speak English or another language? Is the artistic community a nation? How many nations do you feel inside yourself? If art was a nation what would be written in its constitution? Curiger selected 84 artists for her exhibition. Also in 2011, Curiger chaired the jury of the Preis der Nationalgalerie, which was awarded to

Cyprien Gaillard Cyprien may refer to: * , a 2009 film with Catherine Deneuve * , a masculine given name * Tropical Storm Cyprien, a short-lived tropical cyclone People * Glynn Cyprien, American basketball coach * Jean-Pierre Cyprien, former French footballer ...

Fondation Vincent van Gogh

In 2013 Curiger became the Artistic Director of the

in Arles, France. The museum is dedicated to

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

's time spent in Arles and organizes exhibits that foster relationships between van Gogh and contemporary artists.

Other activities

Swiss Institute Contemporary Art New York Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art New York (SI) is an independent non-profit contemporary art organization founded in 1986. SI is located at 38 St Marks Pl, the corner of Second Avenue and St Marks Place in the East Village neighborhood of Manhatt ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2016)

Publications

In 1984 Curiger co-founded the bi-annual contemporary art magazine ''

''."Bice Curiger"
Sommer Akademie, Retrieved 9 May 2014. She has been the Editor-in-Chief since its founding. Since 2004 Curiger has also served as the Editorial Director of

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

's art magazine Tate Etc. Curiger has also authored numerous books on contemporary art, including: *''Looks et tenebrae'' (1983) *''Meret Oppenheim: Defiance in the Face of Freedom'' (1990) *''Maurizio Cattelan, Feuerproben / Acid Tests'' (2008) *''Rebecca Warren: Every Aspect of Bitch Magic'' (2012) *''Double Take: Collective Memory and Recent Art'' (1992) *''Signs and Wonder: Niko Pirosmani and Contemporary Art'' (1995) *''Meret Oppenheim (1996), Birth of the Cool: American Painting from Georgia O'Keeffe to Christopher Wool'' (1997) *''Hypermental - Rampant Reality, 1950-2000: from Salvador Dali to Jeff Koons'' (2000) *''Peter Fischli and David Weiss: Flowers and Questions'' (2007) *''Friedrich Kuhn (1926-1972): The Painter as Outlaw'' (2008) *''ILLUMInazioni'' (Biennale di Venezia 2011) *''Riotous Baroque: from Cattelan to Zurbarán'' (2013)

Exhibitions

Since 1993 Curiger has been a curator at the

,Ciuffi, Valentina
"Bice Curiger director of Art Biennale 2011!"
, ''Abitare'', Retrieved 9 May 2014. and has also curated and co-curated numerous contemporary art exhibitions, including: * ''

Meret Oppenheim In Egyptian mythology, Meret (also spelled Mert) was a goddess who was strongly associated with rejoicing, such as singing and dancing. In myth Meret was a token wife occasionally given to Hapy, the god of the Nile. Her name being a reference ...

'' (1991), Centre Cultural Suisse * ''

Sigmar Polke Sigmar Polke (13 February 1941 – 10 June 2010) was a German painter and photographer. Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matters and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s ...

'' (1991),

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary ...

* ''Double Take: Collective Memory & Current Art'' (1992),

* ''Peter Fischli&David Weiss'' (2007),

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

co-curated with

Vicente Todolí Vicente Todolí (Valencia, 1958) is a Spanish contemporary art curator who has worked as the director of several museums and art centres internationally, including the Tate Modern in London. Education After earning a degree in Art History from ...

* ''

Katharina Fritsch Katharina Fritsch (born 14 February 1956) is a German sculptor."Katharina Fritsch: Arti ...

'' (2009),

Kunsthaus Zurich Kunsthaus (German meaning "art house") may refer to: *Kunsthaus Graz *Kunsthaus Tacheles *KunstHausWien *Kunsthaus Zürich See also * Art gallery * Kunsthalle A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art ...

Recognition

From 1984 to 1994 Curiger was a member of Switzerland's National Council for the Arts. In 2010 Curiger was listed Number 6 on ''

ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

s annual Power 100 list. In 2014 Curiger was named by ''

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

'' as one of the twenty-six most powerful European women in the Art World. In 2022, Franz und Walther König published the book ''C is for Curator: Bice Curiger, A Life in Art'' by Dora Imhof that recaps Curiger's career.Book Launch: C is for Curator- Bice Curiger – A Life in Art, The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles
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Awards and honours

* Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France) * 2007 – Heinrich Wölfflin Medal of the City of Zurich * 2009 – SI Award of the

* 2012 – Culture Prize from the Canton of Zurich * 2012 – Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim of the Federal Office of Culture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curiger, Bice 1948 births Swiss art critics Swiss women art critics Swiss art curators Living people Swiss women editors Swiss women curators Directors of museums in France Women museum directors Venice Biennale artistic directors