Defne Ayas Named Director of Van Abbemuseum

Defne Ayas has been named the new director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, taking over from Charles Esche, who held the position for twenty years. A curator and editor, Ayas engages with themes of culture, technology, spirituality, and politics. She has co-curated significant biennials such as the 11th Baltic Triennale (2012), the 6th Moscow Biennale (2018), and the 13th Gwangju Biennale (2021), in addition to curating the Turkish pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). From 2012 to 2017, she led Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam and currently works as a curator-at-large at Performa in New York. In August 2023, her appointment to direct the Istanbul Biennial was controversially rescinded. Ayas will begin her new role in September, ahead of the museum's ninetieth anniversary in 2026, and is dedicated to upholding its legacy of innovative museology amid the global chip wars.