Lara Khaldi appointed new director of de Appel

The Supervisory Board of de Appel is proud to announce that Lara Khaldi will take on the position of director of de Appel, starting January 2023. Khaldi (born in Jerusalem and living in Amsterdam) has worked as a curator, artist, writer and educator for over fifteen years. Khaldi comes from an interdisciplinary background; her educational background is in curatorial studies (she is an alumni of the de Appel Curatorial Programme 2013/14), Philosophy, Art & Critical Thought (European Graduate School), as well as in art history.

She has curated exhibitions and projects such as School of Intrusions, Educational Platform with Noor Abed (2020-ongoing); Overtone: On the Politics of Listening, Goethe Institute, Ramallah (2019); Unweaving Narratives, Palestinian Museum, Birzeit (2018); Shifting Ground, Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); Maria Thereza Alves: Possible Reversal, KSCC, Ramallah (2017); Untranslatability with Eszter Szakács, Off Biennial, Budapest (2017); Jerusalem Shows V & VI (2011 and 2012), Al Ma’mal Art Foundation, Jerusalem.

Khaldi has taught at several art programs; between 2017 and 2019 she worked as a visiting lecturer and head of department of the Media Studies program at Al Quds-Bard College, Jerusalem. Khaldi was also a tutor on the Disarming Design MA program, at Sandberg Institute, 2020-2022. She was deputy director of programs at Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, (2009-2011) and held various positions there since 2006.

Since the end of 2019 she is a curatorial member of the artistic team of documenta fifteen, and has been working with the practice of lumbung which "enables an alternative economy of collectivity, shared resource building, and equitable distribution.”

Lara Khaldi: “I’m honored that the board put their trust in me to host and facilitate collective work at de Appel for the coming three years. I see this endeavor as a continuation of both my practice and de Appel’s, and trust that I will not be alone. I’m eager to join the existing team and network of de Appel and to bring in the communities which I have learned from and been part of for the last years.”

Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg, chair of the Supervisory Board: “With the determined choice for Lara Khaldi, we are taking an explicit step towards the future. Lara's experience and ideals are to us the right ones to renew de Appel and place it in a groundbreaking way in the world of the future. Her interest in social issues combined with artistic relevance gives us the confidence that the progressive ideals that de Appel has propagated from its early days will be continued in a way that fits the challenges of today, with answers for the future. We are thrilled to support Lara in her endeavour to take de Appel into a direction that opens up processes that are part of institutional change”.

In her vision statement for de Appel Lara proposes to turn structural institutional challenges into collective cultural questions: “How could art institutions not hold systems of power in place? How could the art institution function as an infrastructure in service of what and how (many) artists want to shift society? How could an art institution be approached as a collective artwork?” The Supervisory Board and team of de Appel look forward to working with Khaldi on these crucial questions of how to rethink institutions, share power and contribute to societal shifts.

The Supervisory Board has adopted the recommendations of the appointment advice committee consisting of Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg, Vincent van Velsen, Defne Ayas, Astrid Elburg, Liza Nijhuis and Maaike Lauwaert and unanimously chosen Khaldi as the new director of de Appel.

For interview requests, please contact Djuna Spreksel.