Les Grandes Locos
La Mulatière 69350
France
This edition will run from September to December 2026.
Isabelle Bertolotti, Artistic Director of the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, explains this choice: Catherine Nichols is an art historian, a writer and a curator, which gives her vision a transdisciplinary perspective. She encourages dialog between cultures by working in close collaboration with artists. We particularly appreciated her artistic choices for Manifesta 14 in Prishtina, Kosovo, which highlighted her sensitivity to history, venues and the role of the public, inviting artists to produce works in connection with their environment.
About Catherine Nichols
Catherine Nichols is an internationally acclaimed arts and literary scholar, curator and writer, whose work spans contemporary art, cultural history, and interdisciplinary research. Known for her ability to weave compelling narratives through exhibitions and cultural projects, Nichols has consistently explored art’s potential to address complex social, political, and environmental issues while fostering spaces for thought and conviviality.
In 2022, Nichols served as curator for the European Nomadic Biennial Manifesta 14 Prishtina, titled it matters what worlds world worlds: how to tell stories otherwise, spanning 25 sites of cultural significance that examined the transformative power of storytelling. From 2019 to 2021, she co-led Beuys 2021: 100 Jahre Joseph Beuys, a critical enquiry into the legacy of German artist Joseph Beuys, alongside Eugen Blume.
Nichols has also organised numerous monographic and thematic art exhibitions. These include Beuys: We are the Revolution (2008), The End of the 20th Century: The Best Is Yet to Come (2013) and Capital: Debt—Territory—Utopia (2016) for Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart — Berlin (in collaboration with Eugen Blume); and Everyone is an Artist: Cosmopolitical Exercises with Joseph Beuys (in collaboration with Isabelle Malz and Eugen Blume) at K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf.
An accomplished writer and editor, Nichols has published widely on contemporary art and has co-edited and authored several key publications. Highlights include The New Designer: Design as a Profession for Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (2023); Otherwise (2022), the companion book to Manifesta 14 Prishtina; Shine on me: Wir und die Sonne (2018) and Black Mountain College: An Interdisciplinary Experiment, 1933–1957 (2015).
Nichols is currently a curator at Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin. Her recent projects at the museum include Alexandra Pirici—Attune (2024), Joseph Beuys—Werke aus der Sammlung der Nationalgalerie (2024), and Nationalgalerie: Eine Sammlung für das 21. Jahrhundert (2023). In 2025, she is curating solo shows featuring Colombian artist Delcy Morelos and Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj.
About La Biennale de Lyon
La Biennale de Lyon, created in 1984, is a cultural institution that alternately devises, programmes and runs two major international events: the Dance Biennale and the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art. In doing so it conceives, supports, promotes, develops and spreads their values: creativity, excellence, rigor, solidarity, social diversity—in a spirit of coherence and complementarity.
La Biennale de Lyon is jointly funded by the Ministry of Culture, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, Lyon Métropole and the City of Lyon, as well as by numerous private-sector and institutional partners.
Established in 1991, the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art is one of the world’s leading contemporary art biennials and the premier art event in France. The 2024 edition attracted nearly 285,000 visits to the venues with a ticket office, and 2.7 million people to the artworks in public space.
Chairman: Laurent Bayle
CEO: Sabine Longin
Artistic Director, Contemporary Art: Isabelle Bertolotti
