Index Board announces Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu as new director of Index

The board of Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation is pleased to announce Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu as the new Director of Index.

Durmuşoğlu is an internationally acknowledged curator, writer and educator, known for her lyrically dissident work inspired by histories and conflicts of living together from the Eastern Mediterranean and the South. With long-standing ties to Sweden and the Nordic scene, her appointment marks a warm return to construct new legacies in the rich history of Index.

Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu has taken on a wide array of infrastructural responsibilities in different artistic and pedagogical formats over her career. Self-knowledge epistemologies, civilizations critique, intersectional futures, double consciousness, infrastructural questions, togetherness as a question of aesthetics and practice are her primary research questions.

Among recent exhibitions she has curated are Planetary Peasants (Museum Moritzburg, 2025), STIMMMMMMMMUNG (HBK Braunschweig, 2025), The Story Behind Each Word Must Be Known (Ab-Anbar London, 2024), What If A Journey & All Images Will Disappear, One Day (3rd and 4th Autostrada Biennale, 2021–23), Portrait of a Movement (CA2M and Tensta Konsthall, 2022–23), and Katrina Daschner: Burn and Gloom, Glow and Moon (Kunsthalle Wien, 2022).

Durmuşoğlu has previously taught as a guest professor at Universität der Künste Berlin Graduate School; curated programs within the 10th, 13th, and 14th Istanbul Biennials; worked as a curator for steirischer herbst 2018; and coordinated and organized different programs and events at Maybe Education and Public Programs for dOCUMENTA (13).

In recent years, she has been part of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Braunschweig University of the Arts, co-leading the Art in Discourse programme. Since studying on the Critical Studies programme at Malmö Art Academy, Durmuşoğlu has continued to cultivate artistic dialogues in Sweden and across the Nordic scene.

Durmuşoğlu will take up the position in September 2026.

A statement from Masha Taavoniku, Chair of Index Board:

“The board is unanimous in its excitement to welcome Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu as the new Director of Index. With visionary thinking, intellectual curiosity, and a genuinely collaborative leadership style, she will continue building on the foundation’s strong legacy. We look forward to supporting her every step of the way.”

Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu on her appointment as director:

“It is a true pleasure to be entrusted with the leadership of Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, an institution that sits at the heart of Stockholm’s center and its art scene with its outstanding legacy of artist-driven, experimental institutional thinking. I have followed Index’s activities for many years, ever since my studies in Critical Studies at Malmö Art Academy. This is a special moment in which our paths converge at a pivotal point in world history, when critical artistic imagination is more necessary than ever and its freedom no longer a luxury. I am looking forward to leading this unique institution, drawing on the rich vision and experience I have gained as a curator, educator and writer in Germany, Türkiye, the Western Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean and the international arts scene. This is the next exciting chapter of a long and warm conversation with the Swedish art scene that always made me feel at home.”

Index Board:
Masha Taavoniku (Chair), Henrik Andersson, Johanna Billing, Malin Hüber, Olga Krzeszowiec Malmsten, Koshik Zaman, Didem Yıldırım.

For press enquiries please contact:
board@indexfoundation.se