Working in very different geographies—from Bangladesh to Rome and Lagos—senior curators and heads of institutions share their experience in institution-building and creating alternative models while navigating the intricacies of private, national, and self-organized institutions.

Diana Campbell is the Founding Artistic Director of Dhaka-based Samdani Art Foundation, Bangladesh, and Chief Curator of the Dhaka Art Summit, having lead its critically acclaimed 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023 editions. Concurrent to her work in Bangladesh from 2016–18, Campbell was also the Founding Artistic Director of Bellas Artes Projects in the Philippines and curated Frieze Projects in London for the 2018 and 2019 editions of the fair. She chairs the board of the Mumbai Art Room. Her writing has been published by Mousse, Frieze, Art in America, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), among others.

Hou Hanru is an international curator and art critic and served as an Artistic Director of MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, from 2013 to 2023. He has also served as Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and as the Chair of Exhibition and Museum Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute from 2006 to 2012. He has curated over 150 exhibitions across the world, notably biennales and triennials in Johannesburg, Shanghai, Gwangju, Venice, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Lyon, Auckland, Shenzhen. He has been a consultant and advisor at many international institutions, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, De Appel Foundation in Amsterdam, and the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai.

Snejana Krasteva is a curator and educator. She is currently Head of Curatorial programs at Diriyah Contemporary Biennale 2024 and co-founder of the Eastern Balkans Institute for Art and Architecture in Bulgaria. She served as Chief Curator at Luminous Art Foundation, Lisbon (2022–2023) and as Senior Curator of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (2013–2022). She grew up between Bulgaria and Morocco, received her BA in Chinese studies from the University of Nanjing, China, in 2004 and her MFA in Curatorial studies from Goldsmiths College, London, in 2011.

Azu Nwagbogu is an internationally acclaimed curator, interested in evolving new models of engagement with questions of decolonization, restitution, and repatriation. Nwagbogu is the Founder and Director of African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), a non-profit organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria and the Founder and Director of LagosPhoto Festival, an international arts festival of photography. He is the publisher of Art Base Africa, a National Geographic Society Explorer at Large, and the curator of the first ever Republic of Benin pavilion for the 2024 Venice Biennale.