Amira Gad () is an

art curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

, writer, and editor in modern and contemporary art and architecture. She's currently Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at

Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...

. Previously, she was Curator at Large (Arts Technologies) at

KANAL - Centre Pompidou KANAL - Centre Pompidou is a museum for modern and contemporary art located in Brussels, Belgium, near the Brussels–Charleroi Canal, in the former Citroën Garage buildings. The opening is scheduled for 28 November 2026. During the renovat ...

in Brussels, Head of Programs at LAS Art Foundation in Berlin (2020-2023), curator at the

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...

in London (2014-2020), and

Kunstinstituut Melly Kunstinstituut Melly is a contemporary art house located in a former school building on Witte de Withstraat, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1990 and originally named after the street it was located on. It presents curated exhibit ...

in Rotterdam (2009-2014). She's Egyptian, born in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and grew up in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Career

At LAS, she curated exhibitions by

Ian Cheng Ian Cheng (born 1984) is an American contemporary artist known for his "virtual ecosystem" live-simulated digital artworks. His artworks explore the capacity of living agents to deal with change, and are "less about the wonders of new technologie ...

Libby Heaney Libby Heaney is a British artist and quantum physicist known for her pioneering work on AI and quantum computing. She works on the impact of future technologies and is widely known to be the first artist to use quantum computing as a functionin ...

, a
app
by

Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...

and her program also included a series of dance performances b
Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar
(curated by Claude Adjil), an exhibition by

Jakob Kudsk Steensen Jakob Kudsk Steensen (* 1987 in Køge, Denmark) is a Danish collaborative artist who works on telling immersive environmental stories through 3D animation and sound. Life and work Jakob Kudsk Steensen was already involved in video games in his y ...

(curated by Emma Enderby), kickstarted Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg'
Pollinator Pathmaker
garden at Berlin's

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

as well a
LAS Online
a series of digital commissions. Gad worked as a curator at the

in London from 2014 to 2019. She curated exhibitions of work (and edited the accompanying publications) by artists

Arthur Jafa Arthur Jafa (; born Arthur Jafa Fielder, November 30, 1960) is an American video artist and cinematographer. Early life and education Jafa was born on November 30, 1960, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which was ...

(2017),

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977) is a British painter and writer of Ghanaian heritage. She is best known for her portraits of imaginary subjects, or ones derived from found objects, which are painted in muted colours. Her work has contributed to ...

(2016),

Jimmie Durham Jimmie Bob Durham (July 10, 1940 – November 17, 2021) was an American sculptor, essayist and poet. He was active in the United States in the civil rights movements of African Americans and Native Americans in the 1960s and 1970s, serving on the ...

(2015), and

Hito Steyerl Hito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image visual artist, artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary.Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

) toured to the Julia Stoschek Collection (Berlin, 2018),

Galerie Rudolfinum The Rudolfinum is a building in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-Renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Since its opening in 1885, it has been associated with music and art. C ...

in Prague and the

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened Moderna Museet Malmö in Malmö. History The museum opened in Stockh ...

in Stockholm (2019).

Sondra Perry Sondra Perry is an interdisciplinary artist who works with video, computer-based media, installation, and performance. Perry's work investigates "blackness, black femininity, African American heritage" and the portrayal or representation of black ...

's 2018 Serpentine Galleries exhibition ‘Typhoon Coming On’ traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami while the Torbjørn Rødland exhibition ‘The Touch That Made You’ she curated in 2017 toured to the

Fondazione Prada Fondazione Prada, co-chaired by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli since 1995, is an institution dedicated to contemporary art and culture. From 1993 to 2010, the Fondazione has organised 24 solo shows at its exhibition spaces in Milan, concei ...

Osservatorio in Milan. Alongside working on exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, Gad was the curator working on the public commission by Lee Ufan installed in Kensington Gardens in 2018, as well as part of the selection committee that appointed Japanese architect

Junya Ishigami (born 1974 in Kanagawa prefecture) is a Japanese architect. Ishigami completed his master's degree in architecture and planning at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 2000. Between 2000 and 2004, he worked with Kazuyo Sejima at ...

for the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion and the curator on Serpentine 2016 architecture programme that presented

Bjarke Ingels Group Bjarke Ingels Group, often referred to as BIG, is a Copenhagen, New York City, London, Barcelona, Shanghai, Oslo, Los Angeles, Zurich, and Bhutan-based group of architects and designers operating within the fields of architecture, product, lands ...

(BIG), Asif Khan,

Kunlé Adeyemi Kunlé Adeyemi was born on the and is a Nigerian architect, urbanist and creative researcher. Adeyemi is founder and principal of NLÉ, an architecture, design and urbanism practice, based in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Adeyemi studied at t ...

(NLE),

Yona Friedman Yona Friedman (5 June 1923 – 20 February 2020) was a Hungarian-born French architect, urban planner and designer. He was influential in the late 1950s and early 1960s, best known for his theory of "mobile architecture". In 2018, on his 95th bir ...

, and Barkow Leibinger. From 2009 to 2014, Gad was Managing Curator and Publications at

Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art Witte (and de Witte) are Dutch language, Dutch and Low German surnames meaning "(the) white one". Witte can also be a patronymic surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alfred Witte (1878–1941), German astrologer * Barbara Witte (192 ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. In her time at the institution, she curated exhibitions and public programs including the show ‘Short Big Drama’ with artist Angela Bulloch (co-curated with

Nicolaus Schafhausen Nicolaus Schafhausen (born 1965) is a German curator, director, author, and editor of numerous publications on contemporary art. Since 2012 he has been the Strategic Director of Fogo Island Arts, an initiative of the Canadian Shorefast Foundation t ...

in 2012), ‘The Temptation of AA Bronson’ (2014) and the 2-day conference I AM FOR AN ART CRITICISM THAT… held at Witte de With Center for Center for Contemporary Art and

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Amsterdam curated with the-then artistic director

Defne Ayas Defne Ayas (b. 1976) is a curator, lecturer, educator, and editor in the field of contemporary art and its institutions. Ayas directed, cofounded, curated, and advised several art institutes, initiatives, and exhibition platforms across the globe, ...

Selected exhibitions

* Ian Cheng
Life After BOB
(2022) * Libby Heaney: Ent- (2022) * Judy Chicago Rainbow AR (2020) *

Albert Oehlen Albert Oehlen (born 17 September 1954) is a German painter, installation artist and musician. He lives and works in Bühler, Switzerland and Segovia, Spain.

(2019) * Hito Steyerl: Power Plants (2019) (curated with Ben Vickers, Kay Watson, and Amal Khalaf) * Sondra Perry: Typhoon Coming On (2018) * Abdulnasser Gharem and Heimo Zobernig: Subversive Forms of Social Sculpture (2018) * Torbjørn Rødland: The Touch That Made You (2017) * Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Things (co-curated with Hans Ulrich Obrist), 2017-ongoing * John Latham: A World View, 2017 * Zaha Hadid: Early Paintings and Drawings (co-curated with

Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

), 2016 * Helen Marten: Drunk Brown House, 2016 * Angela Bulloch and Maria Zerres: Considering Dynamics and the Forms of Chaos, 2016 * HACK SPACE (co-curated with

), 2016 * Simon Denny: Products for Organising, 2015 * Jimmie Durham: Various Items and Complaints, 2015 * Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Verses After Dusk, 2015 * Julio Le Parc: Drawings and Games, 2014 * Reiner Ruthenbeck, 2014 * Blue Times (co-curated with Nicolaus Schafhausen), 2014 * The Temptation of AA Bronson (curated by AA Bronson, organised together with Defne Ayas), 2013 * Angela Bulloch: Short Big Drama (co-curated with Nicolaus Schafhausen), 2012

Other activities

Gad is a regular guest lecturer at

Sotheby's Institute of Art Sotheby's Institute of Art is a private, for-profit college in London and New York City. It is a subsidiary of Sotheby's fine art dealers. History Originally conceived as a training program for connoisseurship by Sotheby's auction house in 19 ...

in London and other art schools in addition to giving talks, leading masterclasses and workshops such as Frieze Academy's day-long event ‘How to Curate an Exhibition’.

Bibliography

Albert Oehlen
(2020) * Lee Ufan: ''The Art of Encounter'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries, Koenig Books and Lisson Gallery, 2019) *

: ''Typhoon Coming On'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2018) * Torbjørn Rødland: ''The Touch That Made You'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2018) *

: ''A Series of Utterly Impossible, Yet Extraordinary Renditions'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2018) * John Latham: ''A World View'' (editor and writer, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2017) *

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect, artist, and designer. She is recognised as a key figure in the architecture of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Born ...

: ''Early Paintings and Drawings'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2016) *''HACK SPACE'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries and K11 Art Foundation, 2016) *

Helen Marten Helen Elizabeth Marten (born 1985 in Macclesfield) is an English artist based in London who works in sculpture, video, and installation art. Marten studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at the University of Oxford (2005–2008) a ...

: ''Drunk Brown House'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2016) *

Angela Bulloch Angela Bulloch (born 1966 in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada), is a Canadian artist who often works with sound and installation; she is recognised as one of the Young British Artists. Bulloch lives and works in Berlin. Life and career Bulloch stud ...

& Maria Zerres: ''Considering Dynamics and the Forms of Chaos'' (editor, Sternberg Press & Sharjah Art Museum, 2016) *Serpentine Pavilion and Summer Houses (editor, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2016) * Simon Denny: ''Products for Organising'' (editor and writer, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2015) *

: ''Various Items and Complaints'' (editor, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2015) *

: Verses After Dusk (editor and writer, Serpentine Galleries and Koenig Books, 2015) *

Willem de Rooij Willem de Rooij (born 1969 in Beverwijk, Netherlands) is an artist and educator working in a variety of media, including film and installation. He investigates the production, contextualization and interpretation of images. Appropriations and collab ...

, ''Character is Fate: Piet Mondrian’s Horoscopes'' (editor, Witte de With Publishers, 2015) *''The Crime Was Almost Perfect'' (editor, Sternberg Press and Witte de With Publishers, 2014) *

Erik van Lieshout The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

, ''HOME: Rotterdam Zuid'' (editor, Witte de With Publishers, 2014) *''Morality in Fragments'' (editor, Witte de With Publishers, 2014) *Lidwien van de Ven: ''Rotterdam – Sensitive Times'' (editor, Witte de With Publishers, 2013) *

: ''Source Book 10'' (editor, Witte de With Publishers, 2012) *

Tariq Ramadan Tariq Ramadan (, ; born 26 August 1962) is a Swiss Muslim academic, philosopher and writer. He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at St Antony's College, Oxford and the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, He is ...

: ''On Super-Diversity'' (Copy-Editor, Witte de WIth Publishers and Sternberg Press, 2012) * Miki Kratsman: ''All about us'' (assistant editor, Sternberg Press and Ursula Blickle Foundation, 2011)

Awards and honours

*Nomination for Women Leading the Art World, UK (

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

) *Winner of the 2019 Richard Schlagman Art Book Award in the category Outstanding Artist's Book * Winner of the AICA Award 2018
Exhibition of the Year
Germany * Winner of th
Sky Arts Awards 2016
Visual Arts Category, UK *Winner of the Best Dutch Book Design 2015, The Netherlands *Winner of the AICA Awards 2014: Exhibition of the Year, The Netherlands

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gad, Amira German art curators German women curators Saudi Arabian women curators Art writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Saudi Arabian historians Saudi Arabian women historians 21st-century Egyptian historians German women historians Egyptian women curators Egyptian women historians German women editors Saudi Arabian women editors Egyptian women editors