Maria Hlavajova (b. 1971, Slovakia) is Artistic Director of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands, an institution that advocates for the critical role of art in society through various programmes of education, exhibitions, and publishing. Hlavajova is also initiator and artistic director of FORMER WEST, an eight-year long transnational research, education, exhibition, and publication project organised and coordinated by BAK. Other curatorial projects include Call the Witness, Roma Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale, Italy (2011); Citizens and Subjects, part of the Dutch presentation at the 52nd Venice Biennale, Italy (2007); and co-curator of Manifesta 3, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2000). She regularly contributes to numerous critical readers, catalogues, and magazines internationally. In addition, Hlavajova is co-founder of tranzit, a network established in 2002 that supports contemporary art practices and exchanges in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania. She serves on the Advisory Board of Bergen Assembly, Norway.