Curating Across Landscapes and Biennials

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Large exhibitions increasingly unfold across complex environments that extend far beyond traditional institutions. In this conversation, curator and writer Nato Thompson speaks with Jenny Gil, Executive Director of Desert X, and Mara Gladstone of Mahal Projects and curator of the Philippine Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. Together they will reflect on the work of building exhibitions across landscapes, cities, and national platforms. The discussion will explore how artists respond to place, how curators work within different cultural frameworks, and why these projects matter for connecting contemporary art to broader audiences.

Jenny Gil has held senior leadership roles in arts organizations for more than twenty years, with a practice grounded in sustainability, cultural advocacy, and community development. Prior to her current role as Executive Director of Desert X, she served as Director of Exhibitions at Faena Art in Miami Beach and Buenos Aires, where she oversaw the inaugural public exhibition programs at the OMA–designed Faena Forum in Miami Beach. She was previously Executive Director of the International Committee of Museums of Modern and Contemporary Art (CIMAM) in Barcelona, where she launched the Museum Watch advocacy initiative. Earlier in her career, she founded and directed Ninetofive, a contemporary art production bureau in Barcelona, producing internationally recognized, award-winning exhibitions. Jenny Gil holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Université Paris-Sorbonne and a Master of Fine Arts from the École Supérieure Nationale de la Photographie in Arles, France. She has written for leading international art publications, including Cahiers du Cinéma (Madrid), La Vanguardia (Barcelona), Papers d’Art (Girona), and Arte al Día (Miami).

Mara Gladstone is a curator and educator committed to creating transdisciplinary, welcoming spaces for art that nurture connections between people and the environment. She has organized exhibitions, public art, programs and publications at Desert X, Palm Springs Art Museum and J. Paul Getty Museum in partnership with community leaders and civic agencies. Prior projects include those with Kelly Akashi, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Gerald Clarke, Gisela Colon, Victoria Fu, Nicholas Galanin, Todd Gray, Pat Lasch, Hung Liu, Karen Lofgren, Wang Qingsong, Adee Roberson, Jono Rotman and Wang Wei. Gladstone holds degrees from the University of Rochester (MA, PhD) and Brown (BA) and is a dual citizen of the United States and the Philippines.

For the 2026 San Francisco Art Fair, Gladstone has curated Jon Cuyson:The Sun Beneath, which offers a glimpse into her presentation with Jon Cuyson for the Philippine Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale.

Nato Thompson is an author, curator, and what he describes as “cultural infrastructure builder”.  He is currently Director of The Alternative Art School and Artistic Director for San Francisco Art Fair, Seattle Art Fair, Art on Paper, and Atlanta Art Fair. Thompson has served as Artistic Director for leading institutions including Philadelphia Contemporary and Creative Time, and was also Curator at MASS MoCA.  

While at Creative Time, Thompson organized major projects including The Creative Time Summit (2009–2015), Pedro Reyes’ Doomocracy (2016), Kara Walker’s A Subtlety (2014), Living as Form (2011), Trevor Paglen’s The Last Pictures (2012), Paul Ramírez Jonas’s Key to the City (2010), Jeremy Deller’s It is What it is (2009, with New Museum curators Laura Hoptman and Amy Mackie), Democracy in America: The National Campaign (2008), and Paul Chan’s Waiting for Godot in New Orleans (2007), among others. 

He has written two books of cultural criticism, Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century (2015) and Culture as Weapon: The Art of Influence in Everyday Life (2017). 

Image: Nicholas Galanin, Never Forget, Desert X 2021. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.