Bice Curiger 2014 in Zürich with Parkett's artist collabortations
Beatrice "Bice" Curiger (born 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland) is a Swiss art historian, curator, critic and publisher who has been the Artistic Director of the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles since 2013.[1] In 2011 she became only the third woman to curate the Venice Biennale.
Early life
Curiger was born in 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland.[2] She studied art history at the University of Zurich.[3] After graduation she became an art critic at the Swiss daily newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.[3]
From 1993 to 2013, Curiger worked as curator at the Kunsthaus Zürich (1993-2013). In addition to her work in Zürich, she served as an editor of Tate Etc. magazine (since 2004); a member of the Federal Arts Council; and lecturer at Humboldt-Universität of Berlin (Germany) (2006–07).
In 2011 Curiger curated the 54th Venice Biennale, which she entitled ILLUMinations.[6] She was the third-ever woman to curate the prestigious event since its inception (Maria de Corral and Rosa Martinez co-curated the Biennale in 2005).[7] 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."[8] 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?[9] Curiger selected 84 artists for her exhibition.[7]
Fondation Vincent van Gogh
In 2013 Curiger became the Artistic Director and Exhibition Curator of the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles in Arles, France.[10] The museum is dedicated to Vincent van Gogh's time spent in Arles and organizes exhibits that foster relationships between van Gogh and contemporary artists.[11]
In 1984 Curiger co-founded the bi-annual contemporary art magazine Parkett.[17] She has been the Editor-in-Chief since its founding.[17] Since 2004 Curiger has also served as the Editorial Director of Tate's art magazine Tate Etc.[17]
Curiger has also authored numerous books on contemporary art, including:
Looks et tenebrae (1983)
Meret Oppenheim: Defiance in the Face of Freedom (1990)
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 Kunsthaus Zürich,[18] and has also curated and co-curated numerous contemporary art exhibitions, including: