Rosa Martínez

Rosa Martínez is an art critic and independent curator based in Barcelona, where she received her degree in Art History in 1979. She is currently curator of the exhibition “Fear Nothing, She Says. When Art Reveals Mystic Truths” (2015-2016) at the National Museum of Sculpture in Valladolid, Spain.

In 2005, Rosa Martínez was the first female Director of the Venice Biennale in one hundred and ten years of the history of this event with the exhibition “Always a Little Further” at the Arsenale. In fact, she has developed her career mainly in the field of international biennials from the Mediterranean Biennale (Barcelona, 1988 — 1991), Manifesta 1 (Rotterdam, 1996) or the Spanish Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale (2003). She was artistic director of the 5th International Istanbul Biennial (1997), the 3rd SITE Santa Fe (Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 1999), and the Biennial EVA 2000 (Limerick, Ireland). In 2000 she co-curated the 2nd Pusan Biennial (Korea) and in 2003 she was international advisor for the 2nd Echigo-Tsumari Triennial (Japan). She was co-curator of the 1rst and the 2nd Moscow Biennale (2005 - 2007) and the 27th São Paulo Biennial (2006). She served as Chief Curator at Istanbul Museum of Modern Art from its foundation in 2004 through 2007, stablishing the guidelines for the collection and the program of exhibitions.

Among her many solo and group shows, in 2007 she curated “Chacun à son Goût” for the 10th anniversary of the Guggenheim Bilbao. In 2011 she co-curated “TRA” at the Palazzo Fortuny in Venice and during 2012-2013 she organized the series “What to Think/What to Desire/What to Do” for the contemporary art collection of La Caixa Foundation.

Rosa Martínez has also been a prolific lecturer and a regular contributor to numerous exhibition catalogues, art journals and newspapers. More info: www.rosamartinez.com