Cecilia Alemani Appointed Curator of the 15th Taipei Biennial 2027
04 June 2026, Taipei ––The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) is pleased to announce the appointment of internationally acclaimed curator Cecilia Alemani as curator of the 15th Taipei Biennial 2027. Widely recognized for her visionary exhibitions that bring together contemporary art, public engagement, and transnational perspectives, Alemani will lead the next edition of one of Asia’s most influential biennials, opening in 2027 at Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Organized by TFAM since 1998, the Taipei Biennial has established itself as a vital platform for contemporary artistic discourse, fostering critical dialogue between Taiwan and the international art community. Through its long-standing commitment to experimentation and intellectual exchange, the biennial has consistently addressed urgent social, political, ecological, and technological questions shaping contemporary life.
Cecilia Alemani’s appointment reflects TFAM’s ongoing commitment to engaging curatorial voices whose practices challenge conventional exhibition-making while opening new possibilities for global conversation. Across more than two decades, Alemani has developed a distinctive curatorial practice centered on ambitious artistic commissions, interdisciplinary thinking, and expanded understandings of public space and collective imagination.
“Cecilia Alemani is among the most compelling curatorial voices of our time,” said TFAM. “Her exhibitions consistently demonstrate a remarkable ability to connect historical inquiry with contemporary urgencies while remaining deeply attentive to artists and audiences alike. We are honored to welcome her as curator of the Taipei Biennial 2027 and look forward to the new perspectives she will bring to Taipei and the international art community.”
Throughout her career, Alemani has demonstrated a sustained interest in foregrounding historically marginalized voices, particularly women artists and underrepresented artistic practices. Her curatorial projects often move fluidly across historical and contemporary perspectives, constructing dialogues that challenge dominant narratives while proposing alternative ways of understanding culture, memory, identity, and imagination.
Alemani is currently based in New York, where she has served since 2011 as Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, the public art program presented by the High Line. During her tenure, she has commissioned and organized major projects by internationally renowned artists including El Anatsui, Phyllida Barlow, Carol Bove, Sheila Hicks, Tishan Hsu, Rashid Johnson, Barbara Kruger, Simone Leigh, Ibrahim Mahama, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Faith Ringgold, Ed Ruscha, Adrián Villar Rojas, and Nari Ward, among many others. Her work at the High Line has expanded the role of public art as a space for civic engagement, experimentation, and dialogue.
Alemani gained global recognition as Artistic Director of the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, where she curated The Milk of Dreams, an exhibition inspired by the writings of Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. Bringing together 213 artists from 58 countries, the exhibition explored transformations of the body, relationships between individuals and technology, and connections between human beings and the earth. Widely praised for its intellectual depth and emotional resonance, The Milk of Dreams attracted more than 800,000 visitors and became one of the most celebrated editions in the history of the Venice Biennale.
In addition to directing the Venice Biennale, Alemani served as Artistic Director of the inaugural Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires in 2018 and curated the Italian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. She has also curated Frieze Projects in New York, organized exhibitions internationally across museums and nonprofit institutions, and contributed extensively to contemporary art criticism and publishing.
Responding to her appointment, Alemani stated:
“It is a profound privilege to be entrusted with the next edition of the Taipei Biennial, an exhibition with a remarkable history of shaping contemporary art discourse. Embarking on my first curatorial project in Asia, I feel both excited and humbled by this opportunity. In our current global climate, platforms like the Taipei Biennial carry an even greater urgency. They are vital spaces for creative expression and cultural resilience: they remind us of the power of art to foster dialogue and discussion at a critical historical crossroads. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum has long been a vital bridge between regional narratives and global perspectives, and I am eager to collaborate with the artistic community here to create an exhibition that resonates deeply across borders.”
Li-Chen Loh, the Director of the TFAM expressed profound enthusiasm regarding the upcoming 2027 edition:
“The Taipei Biennial has long served as a vital junction where global artistic movements meet the unique historical and cultural topographies of Asia. We are confident Cecilia Alemani’s curatorial lens will provide a transfixing framework that honors Taipei’s distinct landscape while engaging our local audience in vital conversations with global masters."
The Taipei Biennial 2027 will continue TFAM’s commitment to presenting contemporary art within a framework that emphasizes international collaboration, regional specificity, and critical inquiry. Since its inception, the biennial has invited curators from around the world to engage with Taipei as a site of cultural production and exchange, generating exhibitions that resonate locally while participating in broader global conversations.
As Taiwan occupies an increasingly significant position within contemporary cultural discourse, the Taipei Biennial continues to serve as an important meeting point for artists, thinkers, and audiences navigating rapidly shifting political, ecological, and technological realities. The appointment of Alemani signals TFAM’s intention to further deepen the biennial’s international engagement while remaining attentive to the distinct cultural and historical contexts of Taipei and the Asia-Pacific region.
For further details regarding to the Taipei Biennial 2027 will be announced. Please stay tuned to TFAM’s official website (www.tfam.museum) or follow TFAM on Facebook and Instagram (Taipei Fine Arts Museum).
Curator Biography
Cecilia Alemani is an Italian curator based in New York. Since 2011, she has served as the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, where she oversees and commissions ambitious public art projects. Alongside her institutional leadership at the High Line, she maintains an expansive international practice dedicated to realizing large-scale exhibitions and biennials.
From 2020 to 2022, she served as the Artistic Director of the 59th Venice Biennale, where her acclaimed exhibition, The Milk of Dreams, welcomed over 800,000 visitors. Her other recent and upcoming projects include curating Once Within A Time, the 12th SITE Santa Fe International (2025), alongside the upcoming (fall 2026) inaugural exhibition at the new art center LARGE in Paris and a major retrospective of Costantino Nivola at the Triennale di Milano—further extending her work within public spaces and unconventional landscapes.
About Taipei Biennial
Being one of the most long-standing biennials in Asia, the Taipei Biennial held by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum has endeavored in driving Taiwanese contemporary art development since it was launched in 1998, facilitating a platform of interaction and exchange between local and international communities through its vigorous engagement informed by diversely cultural perspectives in Asian and global contemporary art networks. Through the multi-directional communication of exhibition mechanism, the biennial aims to proactively lead in discussions and respond to contemporary issues, encompassing global perspectives and regional individuality. In the recent editions, experts and professionals from various disciplines have been invited to participate in the biennial with the objective to spark and introduce multifacetedness of art, while engendering the energy of different artistic dimensions.
www.taipeibiennial.org
About Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Established in 1983 in response to a burgeoning modern art movement, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) is Taiwan’s first museum of modern and contemporary art. Since its inception, the museum has shouldered its mission dedicated to the preservation, research, development and advocacy of modern art in Taiwan, while staying abreast of cultural productions that arise in the context of an expanding global contemporary art scene. TFAM has been participating in Venice Biennale since 1995 and has been hosting the Taipei Biennial since 1998, inviting renowned international and local curators and artists to participate in the exhibition.
www.tfam.museum
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