Catherine Nichols

Curator of the 18th Biennale de Lyon
Curator of Hamburger Bahnhof - Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin

Catherine Nichols is an arts and literary scholar, curator and writer, whose work spans contemporary art, cultural history, and interdisciplinary research. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature/German Studies and is currently a curator at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin.

In 2022, Nichols curated the European Nomadic Biennial Manifesta 14 Prishtina, titled it matters what worlds world worlds: how to tell stories otherwise. From 2019 to 2021, she co-led beuys 2021: 100 Jahre Joseph Beuys, a critical enquiry into the legacy of German artist Joseph Beuys, alongside Eugen Blume. Her recent projects at the museum include Alexandra Pirici – Attune (2024), Joseph Beuys – Werke aus der Sammlung der Nationalgalerie (2024), and Nationalgalerie: Eine Sammlung für das 21. Jahrhundert (2023). In 2025, she will curate solo shows featuring Colombian artist Delcy Morelos and Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj and in 2026, the 18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art.

Nichols has published widely on contemporary art and has co-edited and authored several key publications, among them The New Designer: Design as a Profession for Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (2023); Otherwise (2022), Everyone is an Artist: Cosmopolitical Exercises with Joseph Beuys (2021) and Black Mountain College: An Interdisciplinary Experiment, 1933–1957 (2015).

Photo: Atdhe Mulla