The Greek – born internationally recognized curator, art historian and educator will take up her post on July 1st this year, marking a new era for the museum.
For her new position as the Artistic Director of EMST, Katerina Gregos said: “After working 15 years abroad, it is a great honor for me to take over this position and to have the opportunity to offer to my country through the development of the most important institution of contemporary art “.
Katerina Gregos is an art historian, curator, and writer. Educated in London at the Courtauld Institute of Art, King’s College and City University, she has curated numerous international exhibitions and biennials including more recently the 1st Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art, the Göteborg Biennial, Manifesta, Contour – Biennial of Moving Image, and E V+A – Ireland’s Biennial, among others. She has also curated three critically acclaimed national pavilions for the Venice Biennale, firstly for Denmark with the international group exhibition on freedom of speech, Speech Matters (2011), Personne et les Autres: Vincent Meessen and Guests, also an international exhibition which explored colonial modernity and Belgium’s colonial history (2015) and Traces of Disappearing: In Three Acts, a solo exhibition of Igor Grubić for the Croatian Pavilion (2011). She began her professional life as the founding director of the Deste Foundation’s Centre for Contemporary Art in Athens. In 2006, following an international competition, she was appointed artistic director of the Argos – Centre for Audiovisual Arts in Brussels and moved to the Belgian capital, where she has been based until today. Following her tenure at Argos she worked as an independent curator, whilst also serving also as artistic director of Art Brussels. In 2016 she was appointed curator of visual arts of the non-profit Schwarz Foundation (Munich/Athens). Her curatorial practice, which – for the last twenty years – has consistently explored the relationship between art, society and politics with a particular view on questions of democracy, human rights, economy, ecology, crises and changing global production circuits, has been distinguished internationally for its steadfast vision and coherence.
Gregos’ most recent curatorial project was the exhibition Modern Love: or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies, which was presented at Museum für Neue Kunst in Freiburg (2020/21) traveled to Tallinn Art Hall (EE) in summer 2021 and then to IMPAKT Media Organisation and the Centraal Museum, Utrecht (NL), in the fall-winter 2021/2022. The exhibition will also be presented at ΕΜΣΤ at the end of 2022.
See: www.katerinagregos.org for Gregos’ full biography and exhibition history.
Katerina Gregos talks to Chloe Stead on Frieze, about her new position as Artistic Director of EMST
