Cecilia Alemani Named Curator of 12th SITE Santa Fe International

The organizers of the SITE Santa Fe International on January 23 announced the appointment of Cecilia Alemani to the role of curator of the biennial’s twelfth iteration. The Italian-born Alemani, who curated the Fifty-Ninth Venice Biennale, “The Milk of Dreams,” in 2022, has since 2011 served as director and chief curator of New York’s High Line Art. Among the works she has commissioned for the elevated greenway, a major tourist attraction, are those by Meriem Bennani, Sam Durant, and Simone Leigh. She was artistic director of the inaugural edition of Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires in 2018 and curated the Italian Pavilion at the Fifty-Seventh Venice Biennale in 2017. More recently, she organized the first US retrospective of Japanese painter Tetsuya Ishida for Gagosian in New York, in 2023, and this month at Muzeum Susch in Zernez, Switzerland, curated“Anu Põder: Space for My Body,”the first solo exhibition of Põder to appear outside the artist’s native Estonia.RelatedROBERT WHITMAN (1935–2024)MARIE-ANNE MCQUAY TO CURATE 2025 LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL “The SITE Santa Fe International has systematically shifted paradigms and conversations around globalization and the lure of the local, to quote celebrated New Mexico author, Lucy R. Lippard,” said Alemani in a statement.

“Santa Fe has long impacted artists and writers, serving as a sanctuary, a refuge, and a source for creativity. The region’s rich cultural tapestry is woven through generations and across multiple languages and worldviews, making the International unique among exhibitions of its kind. I admire both its international scope and the sharpness that comes with its focused scale, and I am eager to work in this atmosphere of vibrant creativity that draws artists from around the world while also nurturing a thriving local art scene.” The SITE Santa Fe International was launched in 1995 as the SITE Santa Fe Biennial before undergoing a name change. Opening in summer 2025 and running through early 2026, the event is the first edition of the International to be staged since 2018, having been on hiatus owing to the Covid-19 crisis. Alemani is the fourth person to curate both the Venice Biennale and the SITE Santa Fe Biennial, joining an illustrious lineup that includes Francesco Bonami, Rosa Martínez, and Robert Storr. Other past curators of the Santa Fe event include José Luis Blondet, Dave Hickey, Candice Hopkins, and Ruba Katrib.

“We obviously thought about a lot of people, but based on [Alemani’s] past work, it made it an easy decision for us. It was so intriguing to me how beautifully she constructed the show in Venice,” SITE Santa Fe director Louis Grachos told theSanta Fe Reporter. “She’s deeply rooted in art history and incorporates that in such a poetic way.” No theme has yet been announced for the event, but Alemani told theReporterthat she was especially interested in collaborating with SITE staff on the project. “My way of working is very collaborative,” she said. “I look forward to exchanging ideas. In a way, that’s the most exciting part. That journey cannot be solitary.

It needs to be collective.”.