Hedwig Fijen, founding director of Manifesta, the European Nomadic Biennial, will step down on 5 October. Emilia van Lynden and Catherine Nichols will take over as general director and artistic director respectively, the supervisory board of the International Foundation Manifesta has announced.
Fijen was commissioned by the Netherlands Office for Fine Arts in the Hague to develop a pan-European platform in 1991. Since then, she has led Manifesta, overseeing the programme direction, selection of curatorial teams and of host cities, which have included Palermo (2018), Pristina (2022), Barcelona (2024) and the upcoming edition in Ruhr (2026).
Van Lynden has been part of the International Foundation Manifesta since 2019, where she currently serves as deputy director. Nichols is a Berlin-based curator. She has previously contributed to Manifesta as creative mediator for the 2022 edition and as part of the artistic board for the 2026 edition. They will begin working together on the leadership of the biennial starting with Manifesta 17 (2028) in Coimbra, Portugal.
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