BIENNIAL
1 – 30 Sept. 2024
Craft Experts
Who are they
Craft experts
Diana Campbell - Asia Pacific
Diana Campbell is an American curator and writer. Institution building and creating forums for interdisciplinary cultural convenings are core to her curatorial practice, inspired by her life experiences working in Asia. In 2013 she became Founding Artistic Director of Dhaka-based Samdani Art Foundation, Bangladesh and Chief Curator of the Dhaka Art Summit. Diana is Head of Global Initiatives of the Hartwig Art Foundation in Amsterdam and is also part of the facilitation group of AFIELD.
Elbé Coetsee - Southern Africa
Elbé Coetsee is a research associate, author, creative and a business owner. She established the Mogalakwena Craft Art Development Foundation in 1994 to provide training and sustainable employment. She developed the Mogalakwena Studio, a melting pot of expertise and learning. She collaborates with renowned international designers, artists, architects and craftspeople. In tandem, Elbé runs Mogalakwena Gallery in the old stables at Montebello Design Centre in Newlands, Cape Town.
Glenn Adamson - USA
Glenn Adamson is a curator, writer and historian based in New York and London. He was previously Director of the Museum of Arts and Design and Head of Research at the V&A. Dr. Adamson is Artistic Director for Design Doha, a new biennial for Qatar; editor of Material Intelligence, a quarterly online journal published by the Chipstone Foundation; and curator-at-large for LongHouse Reserve. Dr. Adamson has authored numerous publications about objects and making, most recently A Century of Tomorrows, which will be published by Bloomsbury in December 2024.
Irina Eschenazi - Worldwide
Irina Eschenazi has been collaborating with Galleria Blanchaert for about twenty years and assists Jean Blanchaert in curatorship activities. She was also assistant curator of Best of Europe exhibition (Homo Faber 2018) and co-curator of Next of Europe (Homo Faber 2022).
Jaeyoung Kang - East Asia
Jaeyoung Kang began her career as a curator at Whanki Museum and later took on the role as the chief curator of Korea Ceramic Foundation. In 2008, she was appointed the co-curator of the 3rd Nanjing Triennale in Nanjing, China. Jaeyoung was artistic director of Korean craft exhibition at Milan Design Week in 2020 and 2021. She directed the Korean craft exhibition at Culture Station Seoul 284 in 2022 and the 2023 Cheongju Craft Biennale. She is currently the artistic director of Korea Craft Trend Fair 2024 and Cheongju Craft Biennale 2025.
Jean Blanchaert - Worldwide
Jean Blanchaert is a gallerist, curator and art critic who runs the family gallery founded by his mother Silvia in 1957, in Milan. He has curated dozens of exhibitions in institutional venues, in the fields of glass, ceramics, iron, enamel and marble, and also in art and photography. Since 2008 he has been a regular contributor to the monthly magazine Art e Dossier. He has been a member of the Curatorial Committee of The Venice Glass Week since 2018. He curated Best of Europe and Next of Europe at Homo Faber 2018 and 2022.
Kei Osawa - Japan
Kei Osawa is a French and Japanese researcher and curator. He researches for the Department of International Design Studies at the University Museum, the University of Tokyo, specialising in the theory of craft, history of Japanese art, and aesthetics. A graduate of the École normale supérieure in Paris, he has worked at the Intermediatheque in Tokyo, organising exhibitions on art and science there and outside of Japan. He is currently working on a general theory of Japanese craft based on fieldwork.
Kevin Murray - Worldwide
Dr Kevin Murray is editor of Garland Magazine. He is currently Vice-President of World Crafts Council, coordinating editor of the Online Encyclopedia of Crafts in the Asia Pacific Region and the Encyclopedia of Crafts in Latin America. Dr Murray is co-founder of the Knowledge House for Craft, Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT University and International Adviser for the Cheongju Craft Biennale 2023. He has curated many exhibitions and published numerous books.
Mary Savig - USA
Mary Savig is the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery. She curated the Renwick Gallery’s 50th anniversary exhibition, This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World (2022) as well as the forthcoming permanent collection exhibitions Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women and Handwork: Celebrating American Craft. She holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Romain Juilha - Worldwide
Romain Juilha began his career in the art world, joining Ateliers d'Art de France in 2011, where he was responsible for events and relations with international partners. From 2019, he became an independent curator, leading him to collaborate on numerous fine craft projects in France and around the world, including the launch of the Revelations China biennial in 2024 and Le Banquet at the Paris Salon, as well as Révélations in 2022 and 2023. Romain also organises independent exhibitions such as Les Formes de la Forêt in Megève, in the French Alps.