Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (b. 1957) is a curator, author, art historian, and retired museum director. She is currently Honorary Guest Professor at the FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Basel.
Since delivering her 2023 Novo Nordisk lecture, “Prolegomena to a theory on artistic freedom” at the University of Copenhagen, she has been exploring 21st-century subject formation through a global lecture series. This research—which weaves together reflections on angels, engineers, agents, autism, and dementia—will culminate in the exhibition Hallucinangels, opening in China in early 2028.
Christov-Bakargiev began curating exhibitions in the late 1980s. Grounded in ecological insights drawn from Arte Povera and the Mediterranean world where her practice is situated, she served as the Artistic Director of dOCUMENTA (13) from 2009 to 2012, where she pioneered the integration of multi-species co-evolution and quantum states into contemporary curatorial practice.