Defne Ayas, currently teleporting between Eindhoven, Berlin, and New York, is a curator committed to forging alliances with artists and systems thinkers, and in doing so, reimagining cultural platforms. Her fieldwork explores how artists can shape reality, politics, and institutions.

Ayas has led, co-founded, and advised numerous art institutions and platforms worldwide, including Melly (formerly Witte de With) in Rotterdam. She is currently the Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and serves as Curator-at-Large at Performa, New York – where she began her curatorial journey in 2005, alongside her work with the New Museum.

She curated ‘Respiro’ by Sarkis for the Pavilion of Turkey at the 56th Venice Biennale, and has co-curated major biennales such as the ‘Mindaugas Triennial’ (11th Baltic Triennial), ‘Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning’ (13th Gwangju Biennale), and ‘Acting in a Center in the City in the Heart of the Island of Eurasia’ (6th Moscow Biennale), together with her cherished collaborators and co-curators.

Ayas is also the founding co-curator of Blind Dates, a long-term project tracing the peoples, places, and cultures that once shaped the diverse geography of the Ottoman Empire (1299–1922).