Foreign Minister Frank‑Walter Steinmeier has appointed Susanne Pfeffer, director of the Museum Fridericianum in Kassel, as curator of Germany’s official contribution to the 57th International Art Exhibition in Venice in 2017. The appointment was made upon recommendation by the Federal Foreign Office Art and Exhibitions Committee, whose members include art experts and directors of leading German art museums. The International Art Exhibition in Venice is the world’s most important showcase for contemporary art. Every two years, artists and art aficionados from around the world meet to discover and discuss the latest trends in art. The Federal Republic of Germany traditionally makes a national contribution commissioned and largely co‑financed by the Federal Foreign Office.

The Foreign Office thus helps foster a lively arts scene in Germany and promotes international cultural exchange as cultural co‑production. The German contribution will be realised in cooperation with the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) in Stuttgart. Susanne Pfeffer was born in Hagen in 1973 and studied art history at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Among other posts, from 2004 to 2006 she was the cultural director of the Künstlerhaus in Bremen and from 2007 to 2012 she was chief curator of Kunst-Werke Berlin. Susanne Pfeffer has been the director of the Museum Fridericianum in Kassel since 2013. In 2015 she was the curator of the Swiss pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition in Venice.