Fatoş Üstek is an independent curator and writer with over two decades of international experience in contemporary art. She is the author of The Art Institution of Tomorrow: Reinventing the Model (Lund Humphries, 2024) and serves as curator of Frieze Sculpture (2023–2026) and Cascading Principles Expansions within Geometry, Philosophy and Interference, Mathematical Institute, Oxford University (2022-2025). Her curatorial expertise spans biennials, exhibitions, festivals, and public art commissions, shaping critical discourse and institutional transformation within the arts.

Üstek’s practice extends beyond exhibition-making, consistently pushing the boundaries of curatorial engagement. She creates synergies for artistic experience in both institutional and non-institutional contexts, expanding the site of encounter to the cityscape and reimagining how audiences engage with contemporary art. Her work blurs the lines between art, architecture, and the public realm, forging new possibilities for cultural dialogue in urban environments.

Currently, Üstek is working on founding a new art institution aligned with the model published in her book. She is also directing FRANK Fair Artist Pay, commissioning public artworks in Dubai and London, curating Frieze Sculpture, and lecturing at global conferences and events.

Professional Overview

Throughout her career, Üstek has played a key role in cultural legacy work, overseeing the acquisition of 152 artworks by 92 artists into national and international public collections across her leadership roles in Frieze Sculpture (2023, 2024), Liverpool Biennial (2019–2020), fig-futures (2017–2019), Arts Council Collection Acquisitions Committee (2018-2020), Art Night Legacy (2017–2019), and the 10th Gwangju Biennial (2014). Her directorial positions include leading Liverpool Biennial as Director and The Roberts Institute of Art steering both institutions through significant periods of strategic and artistic development. Prior to these roles, she curated Art Night 2017, London’s largest contemporary art festival, and fig-2 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 2015, commissioning 50 exhibitions in 50 weeks. As part of this initiative, she co-initiated fig-futures, securing funding from Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Art Fund, and Arts Council England. She was also the Associate Curator of the 10th Gwangju Biennale (2014) in South Korea.

A dedicated advocate for fair pay and equitable working conditions in the arts, Üstek co-founded FRANK Fair Artist Pay in 2021 alongside artists Anne Hardy and Lindsay Seers, working to establish standards for fair practice in the UK’s cultural sector. She holds governance and advisory roles across multiple international organisations, including Urbane Kuenste Ruhr (Germany) and Extra Extra Magazine (the Netherlands). She has also contributed as Chair of New Contemporaries (2022–2025), and Advisory Board Member for Jan van Eyck Academie (Netherlands) (2019-2021), Art Night (2018–2021) and Block Universe Performance Art Festival (2015–2018).

Üstek is an active public speaker and has delivered keynote lectures at institutions including Stedelijk Museum (Netherlands, 2024), MUDAM (Luxembourg, 2024), and Tate Modern (UK, 2019) among others. She regularly teaches as a guest lecturer at institutions such as the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths, Central St. Martins, Camberwell College of Arts, Manchester School of Arts, Sciences Po (France), Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and the University of Santiago de Chile. Since 2022, she has led masterclasses in curatorial practice at Christie’s Education.

Fatoş Üstek’s editorial work is a cornerstone of her curatorial practice, amplifying the voices and narratives of contemporary art. As founding editor of Nowiswere magazine (2008-2012), she laid the foundation for a platform that interrogated art, culture, and theory with a sharp, forward-thinking lens. In addition, her editorial vision shaped Cascading Principles (2024), the publication accompanying her exhibition at Oxford University’s Mathematics Institute, which explored intersections of quantum physics, mathematics, philosophy, and art. In 2017, Üstek edited Fusion of Horizons, the publication for Art Night, which examined how art reshapes and redefines urban spaces. She also conceived and edited fig-2 publication, documenting the ambitious program of 50 exhibitions in 50 weeks at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). Her writing is widely published in exhibition catalogues, art journals, and academic texts, including Curating Companion (Blackwell, 2020).

Honours and Recognition

A frequent juror for prestigious national and international art prizes, Üstek has served on panels for the Turner Prize (2020), Jindrich Chalupecky Award (2022–2024), Celeste Prize (2017), and the selection committees for the Dutch and Scottish Pavilions at the Venice Biennale (2022, 2024). She is currently Juror-in-Chief at Yan Kose (2022–present), a member of the selection committee for LISTE Art Fair (2025–present), and an advisor to YUNT Public Art Lexicon (2024–present). She has nominated artists for major awards including the Fourth Plinth, the Jarman Film Award, Channel Next Art Prize, and the Sam Gilliam Award, among others.

Her contributions to contemporary art have been widely recognised. She has appeared on numerous art and culture podcasts, including The Art World: What If?, Artworld Innovators, Yale Radio, Lonely Arts Club, and All About Art. She was listed in Apollo 40 under 40: Thinkers (2018), the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000: London’s Most Influential People (2017, 2018), Artsy’s The Top 20 Most Influential Young Curators in Europe (2016), and Artlyst Power 100 (2016–2023). She was also included in Blouin Modern Painters’ Top Curators to Watch (2018) and was shortlisted for the ICI Gerrit Lansing Independent Curatorial Vision Award in 2016.

She holds an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a BA in Mathematics and Film Studies degree from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA UK), Independent Curators International (ICI), the International Association of Curators (IKT), and a founding member of the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA).

See all curatorial and editorial projects listed here.