Thiago de Paula Souza Appointed Curator of the Athens Biennale

The Board of Trustees of the Athens Biennale has announced the appointment of Brazilian curator Thiago de Paula Souza as artistic director of the event’s eighth edition, scheduled for Spring 2027. The decision follows a recommendation by the Curatorial Committee.

Based in São Paulo, De Paula Souza has built a curatorial practice focused on exhibition-making and its potential to generate spaces for political reflection. His recent research has explored the idea of transformation through themes such as eroticism, gender nonconformity, forms of intimacy, the mutation of organic matter, and spiritual trance.

Among his recent projects are the co-curation of the 36th São Paulo Biennial (2025), the 38th Panorama da Arte Brasileira at MAM São Paulo (2024), and the exhibition Some May Work as Symbols: Art Made in Brazil, 1950s–70s at Raven Row, London (2024). He has also participated in curatorial initiatives in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, and the United States.

He currently serves on the Artistic Committee of NESR Art Foundation in Angola and is pursuing a PhD in the arts programme at HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research examines artistic practices that invite collaboration in response to neoliberal co-optation.