Eugenio Viola

Eugenio Viola, PhD, is an internationally recognized Italian curator, art historian, and writer who has shaped contemporary art discourse across Europe, Latin America, and Oceania.

From 2019 to 2026, he was Artistic Director and Chief Curator of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO), where he launched an ambitious international program and curated over fifty exhibitions. He organized the first institutional exhibitions in Colombia for artists such as Teresa Margolles, Voluspa Jarpa, Alexander Apóstol, Ana Gallardo, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Kader Attia, Dor Guez, Elisa Giardina Papa, Seba Calfuqueo, UÝRA, and Julieth Morales. Under his leadership, MAMBO gained significant international recognition and media coverage. Major outlets, including The New York Times, highlighted his curatorial vision and the museum’s transformation, while leading art publications acknowledged MAMBO’s growing relevance in the global contemporary art scene.

In 2025–26, he was General Curator of the 24th Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala, The World Tree (El Árbol del Mundo), one of Latin America’s most influential biennials. The exhibition brought together 46 artists from five continents and featured 31 newly commissioned works, marking the biennial’s most ambitious edition to date.

Previously, Viola was Senior Curator at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), Australia (2017–2019), where he curated major projects, including the first institutional exhibitions in Australia for Kimsooja and Cassils. From 2009 to 2016, he held curatorial roles at Museo MADRE in Naples, curating retrospectives of Vettor Pisani and Giulia Piscitelli, the first institutional exhibitions in Italy for Boris Mikhailov and Francis Alÿs, and a major permanent installation by Daniel Buren.

Viola has curated over one hundred exhibitions internationally, collaborating with leading museums, biennials, and cultural institutions across Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania. His projects include exhibitions with artists such as Elisa Giardina Papa (MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos AIres, 2025), Su Hui-Yu (MOCA Taipei, 2023), Giulia Cenci (Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, 2023), Regina José Galindo (PAC Milan, 2014; Frankfurter Kunstverein, 2016), Karol Radziszewski (CCA Toruń, 2014), Mark Raidpere (Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, 2013), Marina Abramović (PAC Milan, 2012), Francesco Jodice (Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, 2011), and ORLAN (Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne, 2007).

Viola curated two acclaimed national pavilions at the Venice Biennale: the Estonian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015): Jaanus Samma, Not Suitable for Work. A Chairman’s Tale, and the Italian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022): Gian Maria Tosatti, History of Night and Destiny of Comets. The latter was the first Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale dedicated to a single artist.

He holds a Ph.D. in Methods and Methodologies of Archaeological and Art Historical Research and is internationally recognized for his scholarship on performance art, bodily poetics, and socially engaged practices.

He has edited over sixty books and exhibition catalogs and authored monographs on artists such as Mike Parr, Teresa Margolles, Marina Abramović, Regina José Galindo, Hermann Nitsch, and ORLAN. A regular contributor to Artforum, Arte, and ArtNexus, his writing has also appeared in Flash Art, Exit Express, Segno, the Enciclopedia Treccani, and many other publications. He has lectured extensively at museums, universities, and cultural institutions worldwide.

Viola frequently serves on international juries and advisory committees. Recent appointments include the LG Guggenheim Award, the CIFO Grants & Commissions Program, Fundación Ama Amoedo, and other leading contemporary art initiatives. He is a member of IKT (International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art) and CIMAM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art).

Viola’s curatorial work has received significant international recognition. In 2025, his exhibitions Antü ñi Kuram by Seba Calfuqueo and Na Mui Nu Pirõ by Julieth Morales at MAMBO were selected among Artforum’s “Best of 2025: Top Ten” by Léuli Eshrāghi. That year, he was included in ArtReview’s Power 100, which noted that before his arrival at MAMBO in 2019, The New York Times described the museum as “long on history but short on global clout.” Under his leadership, its international stature grew through a program that both canonized key local artists and introduced Colombian audiences to major international voices.

He was named Best Italian Curator by Artribune in 2016 and 2019, and in 2014, Apollo magazine identified him as one of the most talented and inspiring young figures driving the international art world forward.