NEWS

Cosmin Costinaș

b. 1982 in Satu Mare, Romania | Curator, Writer

Cosmin Costinaș is a curator and writer, and is until the end of this year the Senior Curator of Exhibition Practices at HKW, Berlin, a position he assumed in July 2022. Costinaș will continue his engagement with HKW in the role of curatorial advisor.

He has previously served as the Director of Para Site in Hong Kong  (2011-2022). His curatorial experiences are broad: Co-curator, Romanian Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale (2022); Artistic Director, Kathmandu Triennale (2022); Guest Curator of the Dhaka Art Summit ’18 (2018), Co-curator of the 10th Shanghai Biennale (2014), Curator of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (2008-2011); Co-curator of the 1st Ural Industrial Biennial, Ekaterinburg (2010); and Editor of documenta 12 Magazines, documenta 12, Kassel (2005-2007). Other than curating exhibitions, he has also served as a juror for art awards. He was listed in the “Power 100” by ArtReview in 2020 and 2021.

Together with Inti Guerrero, he has co-curated 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024) as Artistic Director and Dakar Biennale 2018 as guest curator, among others.

Inti Guerrero

b. 1983 in Bogotá, Colombia | Curator, Educator

Inti Guerrero is a curator and educator, currently Adjunct Professor in the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong.

He has served as the Artistic Director of Bellas Artes Projects in Manila/Bataan, the Philippines (2018-2021); the Estrellita B. Brodsky Adjunct Curator, Latin American Art at Tate, London (2016-2020); Chief Curator of the 38th EVA International, Limerick (2018); and Artistic Director of TEOR/éTica, San Jose (2011-2014). He has been a tutor, guest professor and lecturer at universities and art schools in Europe, the United States, Asia and Latin America, and has also written for numerous exhibition catalogues and journals. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including Episode 04 “Institute for Tropical and Galactical Studies,” of Yokohama Triennale 2020.

Together with Cosmin Costinaș, he has co-curated 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024) as Artistic Director and Dakar Biennale 2018 as guest curator, among others.

Joint Curatorial Activities

While they each have extensive experiences in curatorial projects across multiple continents, they have co-curated many exhibitions and projects together in the last decade. As Artistic Directors of the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024), they received wide acclaim for a curatorial approach that celebrated joyful acts of collective resistance. They also served as guest curators for the Dakar Biennale 2018, and have co-curated exhibitions in Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, San Francisco, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok, among others.

On the Selection of the Artistic Directors

Kamiya Yukie  

Chair, 9th Yokohama Triennale Artistic Director Selection Committee / Head, Curatorial Division / Chief Curator, National Art Center, Tokyo
 

Biennales and triennales, as forms of international exhibitions, have emerged as key manifestations of the global era. The next edition of Yokohama Triennale is looking for a new direction that could shift the status quo of these endeavors. Kuraya Mika, the Executive Director, noted that the next Triennale will aim to organize dialogues with many regions and cultures, but with a focus on sustainability. Hence, this became the starting point of the process of selecting the next artistic director.

The six of us on the selection committee conducted a two-stage selection process. In the first round, we narrowed down the candidates to three from a diverse range of 22 candidates, who were nominated by 13 professionals from Japan and abroad. The shortlisted candidates were then invited to Yokohama, where they researched the city, its history, and its rich potential of cultural resources to stage the Triennale. Based on their findings, they proposed a preliminary curatorial concept. We conducted interviews and discussions on the proposals to reach our final decision.

The finalists were all based outside Japan with experiences organizing international exhibitions as well as articulating art of the present day through the lens of both contemporary society and historical reflection. After extensive discussions with the candidates about the future of the Triennale and much deliberation amongst the committee members, we arrived at a decision to select Cosmin Costinaş and Inti Guerrero as the Artistic Directors of the 9th Yokohama Triennale, who presented a conceptually and visually creative proposal.

They noted that an international exhibition is inherently a local endeavor. They have a clear awareness of the need for cultural projects to function within and be embraced by the local context in order to be sustainable. Their genuine interest in Yokohama’s history as a place of exchange, and their enthusiasm for engaging with the cultural ecosystem that has taken root here, were also evident.

Their blueprint suggests a new vision of the Yokohama Triennale: one that takes in the local realities and challenges of our time through vast and deep metaphors of the ocean, allowing for slow and thoughtful reflection. In an age when unexpected forces are dividing what was once a connected world, we sincerely hope this will give rise to a practice that enables a sustainable form of interconnection.

About the 9th Yokohama Triennale