LYON.- Isabelle Bertolotti, Artistic Director of the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, explains this choice: Catherine Nichols is an art historian, a writer and a curator, which gives her vision a transdisciplinary perspective. She encourages dialog between cultures by working in close collaboration with artists. We particularly appreciated her artistic choices for Manifesta 14 in Prishtina, Kosovo, which highlighted her sensitivity to history, venues and the role of the public, inviting artists to produce works in connection with their environment.
"The Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art has long been an ambitious space for artistic enquiry and political imagination, a site where art engages with the world, indeed with the planet, in all its complexity. I am immensely honoured to be invited to curate the 18th edition of the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, to build upon its rich legacy while embracing new forms of artistic and intellectual exploration.
As I immerse myself in Lyon and the artistic, cultural, scientific and economic dialogues that shape its layered geography, I am ever more inspired by the opportunity to bring new voices, ideas and practices into the conversation. I am profoundly grateful to the Biennale for inviting me to join the team in dreaming up a new Biennale edition, one that is at once situated and connected, audacious yet responsive, and, above all, attuned to the urgencies and possibilities of the present." -- Catherine Nichols
Catherine Nichols is an internationally acclaimed arts and literary scholar, curator and writer, whose work spans contemporary art, cultural history, and interdisciplinary research. Known for her ability to weave compelling narratives through exhibitions and cultural projects, Catherine Nichols has consistently explored art’s potential to address complex social, political, and environmental issues while fostering spaces for thought and conviviality.
In 2022, Catherine Nichols served as curator for the European Nomadic Biennial Manifesta 14 Prishtina, titled it matters what worlds world worlds: how to tell stories otherwise, spanning 25 sites of cutural significance that examined the transformative power of storytelling. She curated a programme spanning 25 sites of cultural significance that examined the transformative power of storytelling. From 2019 to 2021, she co-led beuys 2021: 100 Jahre Joseph Beuys, a critical enquiry into the legacy of German artist Joseph Beuys, alongside Eugen Blume.
Catherine Nichols has also organised numerous monographic and thematic art exhibitions. These include Beuys: We are the Revolution (2008), The End of the 20th Century: The Best Is Yet to Come (2013) and Capital: Debt – Territory – Utopia (2016) for the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart – Berlin (in collaboration with Eugen Blume); and Everyone is an Artist: Cosmopolitical Exercises with Joseph Beuys (in collaboration with Isabelle Malz and Eugen Blume) at K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf.
An accomplished writer and editor, Catherine Nichols has published widely on contemporary art and has co-edited and authored several key publications. Highlights include The New Designer: Design as a Profession for Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (2023); Otherwise (2022), the companion book to Manifesta 14 Prishtina; Shine on me: Wir und die Sonne (2018) and Black Mountain College: An Interdisciplinary Experiment, 1933–1957 (2015).
Catherine Nichols is currently a curator at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin. Her recent projects at the museum include Alexandra Pirici – Attune (2024), Joseph Beuys – Werke aus der Sammlung der Nationalgalerie (2024), and Nationalgalerie: Eine Sammlung für das 21. Jahrhundert (2023). In 2025, she is curating solo shows featuring Colombian artist Delcy Morelos and Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj.
