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Jessica Cerasi is an independent curator, and Head of Programme at the Bagri Foundation. Most recently, she curated Shezad Dawood’s midcareer retrospective Skin of Dreams at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation (8 April–20 September 2026). She was co-curator of the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia at the Venice Biennale in 2024, and a curator for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi project at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation from 2020-2024. Previously held curatorial roles include at the UK Government Art Collection, Carroll / Fletcher gallery, and the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre. She was also Assistant Curator for the Venice Biennale in 2019, and Assistant Curator for the Biennale of Sydney in 2016.
With a strong interest in fostering contemporary art appreciation among new audiences, she led a popular course on “Demystifying Contemporary Art” at Tate Modern (2017-2019), and is author of Who’s Afraid of Contemporary Art? (2017, with Kyung An) and Contemporary Art Decoded (2021). She has contributed to numerous exhibition publications, including the 2026 Venice Biennale and Halil Altındere’s MOTHERLAND, and was a juror for the Artist of the Year Award (2025), and Mamüt Art Project (2024).
Image: Portrait of Jessica Cerasi. ©Tash Nellist, Courtesy the Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia. Learn more about Le désir du cœur (The Desire of the Heart). |
