Elvira Dyangani Ose joins The Showroom from her role as Senior Curator at Creative Time, the New York-based non-profit public arts organisation, succeeding outgoing Director, Emily Pethick.

Currently Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, Dyangani Ose is a member of the Thought Council at the Fondazione Prada and is an independent curator. She is currently curating Basilea, a Creative Time project commissioned by Art Basel and Laura Lima’s Horse Takes King, the last iteration of the four-part project, Slight Agitation at the Fondazione Prada, where in 2015 she curated exhibitions of Theaster Gates, Nástio Mosquito, and Betye Saar among others. She was Curator of the eighth edition of the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary art (GIBCA 2015) and Curator, International Art at Tate Modern (2011 – 2014). She recently joined Tate Modern’s Advisory Council.

Julie Lomax, Chair of The Showroom’s Board of Trustees and Director of Development at the Liverpool Biennial said about the appointment of Elvira Dyangani Ose : “She will bring with her a wealth of international experience from her work with Creative Time, the Thought Council at Fondazione Prada and as Curator, International Art at Tate Modern. Her specific interest in arts in the public space and socially engaged practices fit perfectly with the collaborative and community-based approach at The Showroom and I very much look forward to seeing what she will bring as its new Director.”

Peter Heslip, National Director of Visual Arts, Arts Council England stated: “Elvira Dyangani Ose joins The Showroom bringing a strong international track record. We look forward to working with her as she takes the organisation forward.”

Andrew Renton, Professor of Curating at Goldsmiths and also a member of The Showroom’s Board of Trustees stated: “Elvira has a track record of exhibition-making that’s nothing short of visionary. Far-reaching in perspective, she’s the curator you always want to know what she is looking at, what ideas she is testing. It’s such an enticing prospect to imagine how she will take on the 35-year legacy of The Showroom to make it her own.”

Regarding the appointment, Elvira Dyangani Ose said:

“Most of my theoretical work has focused on new forms of environment produced by artists in the absence of conventional institutions and contexts. The chance of continuing research and curatorial projects on the formulation of such experience as institution, as well as providing a platform for experimental artistic practices under the umbrella of The Showroom, is extraordinary.”

Elvira Dyangani Ose is Senior Curator at Creative Time, Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths and member of the Thought Council at the Fondazione Prada.

She is currently curating Basilea, a Creative Time project commissioned by Art Basel and Laura Lima’s Horse Takes King, the last iteration of the four-part project, Slight Agitation at the Fondazione Prada, where in 2015 she has curated the exhibitions, Theaster Gates’s True Value, Nástio Mosquito’s T.T.T. Template Temples of Tenacity and Betye Saar: Uneasy Dancer, among others. She was part of the curatorial team of the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement 2016 in Geneva, Curator of the eighth edition of the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary art, (GIBCA 2015) and Curator, International Art at Tate Modern (2011 – 2014). Previously, Dyangani Ose served as curator at the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno and the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, as Artistic Director of Rencontres Picha, Lubumbashi Biennial (2013), and as Guest Curator of the triennial SUD, Salon Urbain de Douala (2010). Main curatorial projects include: A Story Within A Story… (2015), Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist (2013), Across the Board (2012–2014), Carrie Mae Weems: Social Studies (2010), Arte Invisible (2009, 2010), and Olvida Quien Soy/Erase Me From Who I Am (2006).

Dyangani Ose has published and lectured on modern and contemporary African art and has contributed to art journals such as Nka and Atlántica. She is currently completing a PhD and holds an MA in History of Art and Visual Studies from Cornell University, New York; an MAS in Theory and History of Architecture from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona; and a BA in Art History from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.