Yuko Hasegawa will curate the seventh Moscow Biennale, set to take place from September 15 – October 28, 2017 in various places around the Russian capital, with the Manezh exhibition hall, located next to the Kremlin, acting as a home base.
According to ArtForum, the title of the exhibition is “Transcendental Forest,” and aims to use the forest as a metaphor for the global movement of people. Clouds above the forest will represent the Internet, a forum for communication. “It is between the forest and the cloud that new meanings and masterpieces are created,” Hasegawa said in a statement.
Hasegawa is currently the chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, where she has been since 2007. She holds degrees from Kyoto University and the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music.
Hasegawa is a member of the Asian Art Council at the Guggenheim Museum, New York; adviser to the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai; and professor at Tama Art University. She has an impressive list of curated biennials under her belt, including the Seventh Istanbul Biennial in 2001, and the Eleventh Sharjah Biennale in 2013. She also co-curated the Fifth Shanghai Biennale in 2002, the Fourth Seoul International Biennale of Media Art (2006), and the 29th Biennale in Sāo Paulo (2010).
In 2015, she described curating to artnet News: “It is like a knowledgeable shepherd who gives free rein to his/her animals while being fully aware of when and how to protect them from any danger.”