The Polygon Gallery is honoured to present a conversation with four visionary curators as part its inaugural International Curators Forum (ICF). Invited to share perspectives on their work with artists and communities, the roundtable conversation will provide an opportunity to hear about each participant’s unique curatorial approach, followed by a broad conversation considering the rapidly transforming international context for making art and making it public.

Participants include: Drew Kahu’āina Broderick, Eungie Joo, Susanne Pfeffer, and Vincent van Velsen. Moderated by Monika Szewczyk, Audain Chief Curator.

Doors at 5:30pm
Conversation at 6:00pm

Followed by the Anna Binta Diallo: Predictions Opening Celebration and a Deckchair Cinema screening of Universal Language.

Admission is by a suggested donation of $10-$20, courtesy of BMO Financial Group

Drew Kahu‘āina Broderick is an artist, curator, educator, and writer from Mōkapu on the windward side of Oʻahu, in US-occupied Hawaiʻi. His work is guided by the multigenerational, on-the-ground efforts of queer folk Native Hawaiian women—especially his mother, aunties, and maternal grandmother—who have devoted their lives to art, culture, education, healing and community in Hawaiʻi. Currently, Drew co-leads with filmmaker Sancia Miala Shiba Nash, the grassroots film initiative kekahi wahi (est. 2020), which documents transformations and shares intersectional stories across the Hawaiian archipelago through time-based media. Recent curatorial projects include: ʻAi ā manō (2024) with Kapulani Landgraf and Kaili Chun; ʻAi Pōhaku, Stone Eaters (2023) with Josh Tengan and Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu; and Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022: Pacific Century – E Hoʻomau no Moananuiākea with Melissa Chiu and Miwako Tezuka.

Eungie Joo is a curator, writer, educator and key advisor to global art initiatives. She served as Curator and Head of Contemporary Art at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from 2017- 2024, where she organized Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine) by Kara Walker (July 2024 - April 2026), SOFT POWER (2019) an exhibition considering the role of artists as citizens and social actors, as well as New Work exhibitions by Etel Adnan , Charles Gaines , Wu Tsang and Moved By the Motion, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Mary Lovelace O’Neal. Previously Joo has worked as Artistic Director of the 5th Anyang Public Art Project/APAP 5 in Korea (2016); Curator of the 12th Sharjah Biennial (2013-2015); Director of Art and Cultural Programs at Instituto Inhotim in Brazil (2012-2014); Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Programs at the New Museum, where she spearheaded the Museum as Hub initiative (2007-2012); Commissioner of the Korean Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale, Condensation: Haegue Yang (2009); founding Director and Curator of the Gallery at REDCAT, Los Angeles (2003-2007); and co-founder of the participatory art space Six Months: Crenshaw (2003). In 2006, she was awarded the Walter Hopps Prize for Curatorial Achievement based on her visionary work.

Susanne Pfeffer has been the director of the MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST in Frankfurt am Main since January 2018, where she has curated, among others, retrospectives of Cady Noland (2018) and Marcel Duchamp (2022) as well as the group exhibition Crip Time (2021). For her Rosemarie Trockel retrospective (2022), Pfeffer received the Dr. Marschner Foundation exhibition prize. The exhibition Amt 45 i by Cameron Rowland (2023) was awarded the prize for special exhibition of the year by AICA Germany. Previously, she was the director of the Fridericianum in Kassel (2013- 2017), where she organized, among others, the exhibition trilogy Speculations on Anonymous Materials (2013), nature after nature (2014), and Inhuman (2015). For the trilogy, she was awarded the 2016 ART Curator’s Prize. Prior to this, Pfeffer served as the chief curator of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin (2007–2012) and as curator and advisor to the MoMA PS1 in New York, where she was honored in 2009 by the AICA-USA for her exhibition on Kenneth Anger. From 2004 to 2006, she was the artistic director of the Künstlerhaus Bremen. She has been active internationally as a guest curator at the São Paulo Biennale, the Lyon Biennale, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Museion in Bolzano, and Tai Kwun in Hong Kong. In 2015, Pfeffer curated the Swiss Pavilion in Venice with a solo presentation by Pamela Rosenkranz. At the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2017), her presentation of Anne Imhof at the German Pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation.

Vincent van Velsen is a curator, writer and editor with a background in art and architectural history. Since February 2025 he is the Head of Exhibitions at Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Prior to this appointment, he was the Curator of Contemporary Art and Photography at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, where he took care of the museum's acclaimed collection and curated solo exhibitions by Anne Imhof, Nan Goldin, Ellen Gallagher and Nora Turato. Alongside his position Van Velsen curated exhibitions at the Dutch national museum for architecture, design and digital culture Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam (Submerged Heritage, 2023) and national museum for religious art Museum Catharijneconvent (Christianity and Slavery, 2024). Van Velsen regularly writes for individual artists, institutions, catalogues and magazines; most notable Dutch contemporary art magazine Metropolis M where he also holds a position as contributing editor. Furthermore, Van Velsen was a member of the curatorial team at sonsbeek20→24, board member at De Appel Amsterdam, advisor to the municipality of Amsterdam and chair of several committees at the Mondriaan Fund.

Photos: Banner image - Ema Peter; Drew Kahu‘āina Broderick - Sancia Miala Shiba Nash; Eungie Joo - Mike Vorrasi; Susanne Pfeffer - Picture Alliance/DPA; Vincent van Velsen - Lonneke van Palen.