In Conversation with Carolyn Christov-Barkargiev

This event will be held in the Primrose Potter Studio on Level 1.

Join us for a special in-conversation event with one of the most influential figures in the international contemporary art world, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, as she shares insights into her deeply influential work and its positioning of curatorial practice as a form of care and as a vital tool for thinking, listening, and responding to our shared historical moment.

Christov-Bakargiev will be joined by Professor Anne Dunlop and Associate Professor Anthony White from the University of Melbourne.

This Australian tour is made possible through a partnership between The University of Queensland Art Museum, The University of Melbourne with support from the Potter Museum of Art, Art + Australia and the Dr Harold Schenberg Bequest, the Australian Institute of Art History and the Macgeorge Bequest, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney and Milani Gallery.

About the speaker

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

Christov-Bakargiev is an Italian American curator, art historian, and theoretician internationally recognised for her transformative approach to contemporary exhibition-making. She is best known for her groundbreaking direction of dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012, which expanded across multiple sites to explore themes of trauma, ecology, and interdisciplinary research, and for her foundational scholarship on Arte Povera, which has been pivotal in advancing critical understanding of the movement.

Her curatorial work spans major international exhibitions, including the 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008) and the 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015). She served as Director of Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art and founding Director of the Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti (2016–2023) and has held distinguished academic appointments at Northwestern University and the University of Leeds. She is the recipient of the 2019 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. She retired as director of Castello di Rivoli in Italy in 2023, where she previously served as chief curator from 2002 to 2009. She is currently honorary guest Professor at FHNW University, Switzerland.

Partners

This tour is made possible through a partnership between The University of Queensland Art Museum, The University of Melbourne with support from the Potter Museum of Art, Art + Australia and the Dr Harold Schenberg Bequest, the Australian Institute of Art History and the Macgeorge Bequest, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney and Milani Gallery.