EADJ Curator (Spring 2022-Fall 2023): Selene Wendt
Selene Wendt is an art historian, independent curator, and writer based in Oslo. Her ongoing curatorial focus is on decoloniality and socially engaged art practices, with emphasis on interdisciplinary projects situated at the intersection between contemporary art, music, and literature.
With an MA in Art History from University of Chicago, she worked six years as Curator at Henie Onstad Art Center and eight years as Director and Chief Curator at The Stenersen Museum before founding The Global Art Project in 2013.
She has curated many international exhibitions through the years. Noteworthy thematic exhibitions include聽Art Through the Eye of the Needle聽(Henie Onstad, Oslo, 1999);聽A Doll鈥檚 House聽(Henie Onstad, Oslo, 2002);聽Postcards from Cuba: A Selection from the 8th聽Havana Biennial聽(Henie Onstad, Oslo, 2004);聽Equatorial Rhythms聽(The Stenersen Museum, Oslo, 2006);聽Beauty and Pleasure in South African Contemporary Art聽(The Stenersen Museum, Oslo, 2009);聽The Storytellers: Narratives in International Contemporary Art聽(The Stenersen Museum, Oslo, 2012, and El Museo de Arte del Banco de la Rep煤blica, Bogot谩, 2013), and聽Mind the Map聽(Punkt 脴 Galleri F15, Jel酶ya, 2014).
More recent exhibitions include聽Jamaican Routes聽(Punkt 脴 Galleri F15, Jel酶ya, 2016); The Art of Storytelling (The Museum of Contemporary Art 鈥� MAC, Nitero虂i, Rio de Janeiro, 2016), which featured a book project and series of workshops developed in collaboration with the Dulcin茅ia Catadora collective that actively engaged youth from the local community;聽Orhan Pamuk: The Art of Fiction聽(The Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, 2017); A Sheet of Paper Can Become a Knife (The Prince Claus Fund Gallery, Amsterdam, 2018-19), and The Sea is History (The Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, 2019). In 2019 she co-curated聽R铆os intermitentes(Intermittent Rivers), a large-scale exhibition project initiated by Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons for the 13th Havana Biennial. She was an invited participant in Goethe-Institut S茫o Paulo鈥檚 three-year interdisciplinary research project Echoes of the South Atlantic (2018鈥�20), which also resulted in the exhibition Listening to the Echoes of the South Atlantic at Oslo Kunstforening in 2020.
Her ambition is to create meaningful transcultural dialogs that extend beyond the parameters of the art world and to find innovative ways to use art as a unique tool for societal awareness and change. Her expertise as a curator has been greatly influenced by a consistent focus on contemporary art from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, including artists of these diasporas. She places particular emphasis on research-based exhibitions that address contemporary art within the context of cultural studies and is dedicated to exposing the continued impact of colonial history on today鈥檚 society, most evident in terms of social injustices such as racism, forced migration, and poverty. She writes regularly for publications and art journals such as NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art (Duke University Press), has written and edited numerous books and exhibition catalogs, and is a member of the Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association.
Her book, Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories through Contemporary Art,聽co-published by The Africa Institute (Sharjah) and Skira (Milan), is now available worldwide.
Wendt is currently co-Artistic Director of , a translocational research and artistic project about restitution, reparation and transformation, which she conceived and initiated with Amal Alhaag.
Engage with her work
- 聽with Dulcin茅ia Catadora
EADJ Curator (Fall 2020-Spring 2021): Marina Fokidis
Marina Fokidis聽is a curator and writer based in Athens.聽In 2014, she was appointed Head of the Artistic Office in聽Athens and curatorial adviser for documenta 14. She is聽the founder of Kunsthalle Athena and聽founding director聽and editor-in-chief of聽South as a State of聽Mind,聽an arts and聽culture magazine.
In 2011 Fokidis was one of the curators of the 3rd聽Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art. She was also聽commissioner and curator of the Greek Pavilion at the聽51. Biennale di Venezia (2003) and one of the curators聽of T.I.C.A.B. 鈥� Tirana International Contemporary Art聽Biannual 1 (2001). She was an adjunct curator at the Art聽Space Pythagorion 鈥� Schwarz Foundation, where she聽curated solo shows with newly-commissioned works by聽Slavs and Tatars (2013) and Nevin Alada臒 (2014). From聽2001 to 2008 she served as co-director of Oxymoron,聽a non-profit organisation in Athens dedicated to the聽promotion of contemporary visual art in Greece on an聽international level.
Fokidis has curated several shows internationally and聽has written for various art publications including聽Frieze,聽art-agenda,聽ARTINFO聽and聽Manifesta Journal. She was a聽jury member for various awards including the Preis der聽Nationalgalerie 2019, Videobrasil 2017, BES Revela莽茫o聽2013 鈥� Museu Serralves and the 2013 Furla Art Award.