IBA Stage: 16th Lyon Biennale – Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath

Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath are Directors of Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum for Contemporary Art in Berlin, and Founders of the multidisciplinary, curatorial platform artReoriented, which they launched in New York and Munich in 2009. They are curators of the Lyon Biennale 2022, the French pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2022, and were affiliate curators at Gropius Bau in Berlin from 2017 until 2021.

As an independent voice, Bardaouil and Fellrath have collaborated with more than 70 institutions worldwide and curated exhibitions in leading international museums, including Center Pompidou in Paris, Villa Empain in Brussels, Kunstsammlung NRW in Dusseldorf, Tate Liverpool, ARTER in Istanbul, Gwangju and Busan Museum of Art in South Korea, Saradar Collection in Beirut, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, SCAD Art Museum in Savannah, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Reina Sofia in Madrid. In 2016 they were curatorial attachés for the Sydney Biennale. At the Venice Biennale they were curators of the National Pavilions of Lebanon in 2013 and of the United Arab Emirates in 2019. From 2016 to 2020 they led the Montblanc Cultural Foundation in Hamburg as chairmen. Bardaouil and Fellrath founded artReoriented to rethink traditional models of cultural engagement. Their work focuses on inclusivity of artistic and institutional practices as well as a revisionist approach to art history. They are internationally recognized curators and award-winning authors whose practice is rooted both in contemporary global art and in the field of classical modernism. They have held teaching positions at various universities, including the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. Their diverse cultural and academic backgrounds enrich their inherently collaborative model. Bardaouil, born in Lebanon, holds a Ph.D. in art history and a Master’s degree in advanced theatre practice. Fellrath, born in Germany, holds two Master’s degrees in economics and political science, and is currently professor for design-related sciences at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg.