Yasmin Naderi Afschara appointed Co-Director

Yasmin Naderi Afschar is joining the collective leadership of the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in August 2025. She succeeds Dr Michael Birchall as head of Exhibitions and complements the co-management team consisting of Tasnim Baghdadi (Programmes), Patrick Ilg (Communications), Catherine Reymond (Administration) and Nadia Schneider Willen (Collection). 

Her wide-ranging experience, large network and expertise in new models of participation will help shape the museum. As early as April, she will be selectively involved in developing the programme for the coming years. The newly established curatorial practice interweaves the departments of collection, programmes and exhibitions on an equal footing.

Mira Song, Head of the Social Affairs and Culture Directorate of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, comments on the new appointment: “We are delighted to welcome Yasmin Naderi Afschar, an experienced and engaging personality, to our team. Her work is characterised by polyphony, encounters and accessibility. This makes it an ideal fit for both the management model and the museum’s values. 
We view the outstanding levels of interest in this position as confirmation that we have struck a chord with the times with our collaborative structure. I am looking forward to continuing my work along this path with the newly constituted management team.”

Yasmin Naderi Afschar: “As part of the collective leadership and the curatorial team at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, I am very much looking forward to mediating between the concerns of the art, the artists and the public. For almost 30 years, the museum has stood for experimental museum practice, bold artistic visions and future-orientated educational work. I see this as a strong framework for polyphonic and dialogue-oriented programme formats: projects that create connections to the realities around us and reflect the plurality of contemporary society and current artistic creation.”

Yasmin Naderi Afschar is a curator, author and cultural producer. She is a mediator for Neue Auftraggeber:innen Schweiz, an initiative that opens up new democratic perspectives on contemporary art through citizen-commissioned art projects. She also works as a lecturer, including in the Fine Arts department at the Bern Academy of the Arts, and, within the scope of a curatorial collective, as co-organiser of “LE FOYER—In Process”, a nomadic series of talks on processes in artistic practice. In 2023/2024, she was the interim director of Kunsthalle Mainz. Naderi Afschar previously spent several years holding various positions at the Aargauer Kunsthaus, most recently as a curator from 2018 to 2021. In 2021/2022, she won the first Asia Society Switzerland Curator Residency at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong. She studied art history and Persian literature in Zurich and Berlin.

The Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, located at Limmatstrasse 270, Zurich, is a Migros Culture Percentage institution, and thus constitutes part of the Migros Group’s social engagement. Since its founding in 1996, the Museum has maintained a continuous discussion about today’s central issues, inspired by the artistic positions and works of international contemporary artists. As a forum for active and lively dialogue on the topic of art and its role in society, the exhibitions are designed to involve the widest possible audience – with free admission. Since 2023, the museum has been managed by a five-person co-management team, a unique model in the museum landscape.

For more information, please contact the Migros Museum: T +41 58 570 3038 / presse@migrosmuseum.ch