Stefanie Hessler

Director, Swiss Institute, New York

Stefanie Hessler became the director of the Swiss Institute in New York last year. She has lost no time in expanding the international remit of the institution, and – more particularly – in putting her long-standing research into art and ecology to practical use. Among the curatorial initiatives she has introduced are Spora, which invites artists – in the first iteration, Jenna Sutela, Helen Mirra, T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss, Mary Manning and Vivian Suter – to create work in response to the ecology of the Swiss Institute itself. Prior to joining the SI, Hessler served as director of the Kunsthall Trondheim (2019–22), where she curated the large-scale research-based exhibition ‘Sex Ecologies’, and edited the accompanying compendium on queer ecologies, sexuality and care (MIT Press, 2021). She also worked as the curator of the TBA21–Academy in Vienna and London (2016–19) and more recently, as the chief curator for the 17th MOMENTA Biennale in Montreal (2020–21).

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