Defne Ayas


Defne Ayas is a recognized curator, educator, and publisher working at the intersection of contemporary art, performance, and politics. Ayas is known for conceiving daring exhibition and biennale formats within diverse geographies, in each instance composing collaborative contexts and interdisciplinary frameworks that also provide historical anchoring and engagement with local conditions. Ayas has worked at and with many institutions across the world, including in the Netherlands, China, United States, Italy, and Russia. Currently, Ayas is the Artistic Director of 2020 Gwangju Biennale, together with Natasha Ginwala. She also serves as a curator at large at V-A-C Foundation in Moscow. She was the director of the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. Towards the end of her tenure in 2017, she announced that the institution had to change its name to dissociate itself from its namesake, the Dutch naval officer Witte Corneliszoon de With. The institution’s decision to change its name was immediately politicized, causing a flurry of controversy in the Netherlands. The decision for a name change was triggered by an Open Letter to Witte de With published on 14 June 2017 by Egbert Alejandro Martina, Ramona Sno, Hodan Warsame, Patricia Schor, Amal Alhaag, and Maria Guggenbichler, and the debates that followed.

Career

As announced by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, Defne Ayas together with Natasha Ginwala will be the Artistic Directors of the 13th edition of the Gwangju Biennale, in 2020.. The curatorial duo announced their plans around the exhibition concept around Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, that has taken into view different forms of intelligence. The exhibition had to be postponed due to Covid19 pandemic to February 2021.
At Witte de With, Ayas oversaw a dynamic exhibition and publication program devoted to established and emerging visual artists, writers, and filmmakers from across the globe. With her tenure starting, she commissioned and curated long-term research projects, solo and group exhibitions and ambitious live performance programs, including Kunsthalle for Music by Ari Benjamin Meyers , The Music of Ramon Raquello and his Orchestra by Eric Baudelaire, Öğüt & Macuga by Ahmet Öğüt and Goshka Macuga, The Ten Murders of Josephine by Rana Hamadeh, As If It Were by Bik Van der Pol, Relational Stalinism -The Musical by Michael Portnoy, three-part Art in the Age of…series , Bit Rot by Douglas Coupland, Character is Fate by Willem de Rooij, Moderation by artist Heman Chong ; Dai Hanzhi: 5000 Artists ; The Humans – a theatrical play by writer and artist Alexandre Singh – and its monthly summits Causeries ; the open archive and collection Tulkus 1880 to 2018 by artist Paola Pivi, Blueprints by Qiu Zhijie as well as the award-winning exhibition The Temptation of AA Bronson.
Ayas worked on a number of biennial projects such as: Artistic Director of 2020 Gwangju Biennale, together with Natasha Ginwala, curator of the Pavilion of Turkey in the 56th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale; co-curator the 6th Moscow Biennale ACTING IN A CENTER IN A CITY IN THE HEART OF THE ISLAND OF EURASIA ; curator of the 11th Baltic Triennale ; co-curator of the Istanbul and Bandung city pavilions as part of the Intercity Project of the 9th Shanghai Biennale. Ayas also served as a curatorial advisor to the 8th Shanghai Biennale, and as a publication advisor to the 8th Gwangju Biennale in 2010.
Ayas has been a founding curator of PERFORMA, the biennial of visual art performance of New York founded by RoseLee Goldberg, since its inception in 2005. At Performa, Ayas organised numerous projects and programs with an international roster of acclaimed artists, architects, and writers; while overseeing biennial’s architecture, writing and print programs and its consortium relations. She remains a Curator-at-Large.
Ayas also co-founded several independent initiatives, including Arthub Asia – an Asia-wide active research and production initiative , producing exhibitions and live productions including operas and performances, within the context of China and rest of Asia. Prior to joining Arthub Asia and Performa, she worked as the Public Programs Coordinator of New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, especially artists presentations and critical debates relating to contemporary art and new media.
Ayas is the founding co-curator of Blind Dates Project – an artistic platform that is dedicated to tackling what remains of the peoples, places and cultures of the Ottoman Empire.
She served on many juries including 2019 Venice Biennale International Jury, Prince Claus Awards, and The Eliasson Global Leadership Prize of the Tällberg Foundation. Ayas is a Board member of the Rijksakademie ; Tällberg Foundation; The New Centre for Research & Practice, Collectorspace, Sabanci Museum, SAHA, Protocinema and Art Review Asia ; and a curator at large of Spring Workshop.

Publications

Ayas launched Witte de With’s new online platform WdWReview in 2013, with global editorial desks in Moscow, Istanbul, Delhi/Calcutta, Shanghai, Cairo, and Athens. She is currently, together with writer and curator Adam Kleinman, the Chief Editor of the journal.
She is publisher, editor and contributor to a number of books including:
In addition, Ayas has published in art magazines and journals such as Yishu Journal, Mousse, and Creative Time Reports.

Education

Ayas holds a B.A. in Foreign Affairs at University of Virginia and MPS from the Interactive Telecommunications Program New York University. Ayas also completed De Appel Curatorial Programme in Amsterdam in 2005.