Carla Bianpoen

Carla Bianpoen is a freelance writer and journalist of contemporary art. She studied in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Muenster, Germany. During her time in Europe she engaged with fellow students from Indonesia who pursued nationalist ideals. Carla Bianpoen became the World Bank Indonesia office’s first focal point for Women in Development. At her retirement in 1998 she joined women activists and has been a founding member of the National Commission on Violence against Women, after which she went on to focus on contemporary art. She was the senior editor of C-Arts magazine and has been a juror for the Bandung Contemporary Art Awards since 2009. Carla Bianpoen was the artistic director and co-curator of the Indonesian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. As a writer, she contributes to various Indonesian and international publications and has reviewed, art exhibitions by numerous Indonesian artists in the past two decades, as well as international art events including the Venice Biennale, Prague Biennale, Lyon Biennale, Manifesta and documenta. Carla Bianpoen co-authored the seminal book Indonesian Women Artists: The Curtain Opens, and authored the IndoArtNow commissioned book (unpublished) on emerging Indonesian artists.