AMSTERDAM.- Jo-Lene Ong has been appointed as the new Curator of Buro Stedelijk. She will begin her three-year term in 2026 on 1 March 2026, marking a new phase for Buro Stedelijk as an independently managed, multidisciplinary and experimental platform within the Stedelijk Museum. Ong will build on the strong foundation established in recent years, continuing its role as a space for experimentation, exchange and new curatorial practices.

Jo-Lene Ong is a curator with extensive experience across Asia and Europe. Her practice centres on collaboration, research and long-term projects that reconsider how institutions work with artists and audiences. She develops programmes that foreground shared authorship, sustained dialogue and public engagement.

She has co-initiated initiatives such as the CounterArchive Collective Filmmaking Lab, the Unpacking Infrastructure curatorial exchange for the 16th Sharjah Biennial, and the Thinking Ecologically seminar series at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Ong was previously Curator at esea contemporary in Manchester and Program Advisor for the 12th Seoul Mediacity Biennale. Her curatorial work includes projects with the Hartwig Art Foundation, Framer Framed, the National Art Center Tokyo and the Mori Art Museum. From 2020 to 2024, Ong was a theory tutor at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and is an alumna of the De Appel Curatorial Programme (2017–2018).

Rein Wolfs, Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: “Jo-Lene Ong brings a deeply considered and internationally grounded curatorial practice that resonates strongly with the spirit of Buro Stedelijk. Moreover, she knows the Amsterdam scene inside out. Her attention to process, collaboration and institutional experimentation aligns with our ambition to keep Buro Stedelijk an open and autonomous space for new ideas and forms of exchange. We look forward to the next phase under her curatorship.”

Rubiah Balsem, Chair of Advisory Board Buro Stedelijk: “The advisory board welcomes Jo-Lene as a curator who places hosting-as-hospitality at the centre of her work: a playful and research-driven practice in which makers, histories, and generations shape one another. She expands Buro Stedelijk’s intergenerational and international perspective and aligns with the openness with which the platform moves through Amsterdam and its communities. We look forward to the years ahead.”

Jo-Lene Ong: “Buro Stedelijk has a strong foundation thanks to the dedication of Rita Ouédraogo and Azu Nwagbogu. As I step into this role, I do so with care for the community and the trust Rita has so brilliantly cultivated. Buro Stedelijk’s unique position of autonomy within the museum allows us to create new dynamics in how we work and think together. I want Buro Stedelijk to be a place of genuine connection—a warm, open space that hosts Amsterdam’s people, ideas and worlds. This city is a crossroads of intertwined histories and international currents, and my aim is to listen closely to these rhythms, making our interdependence visible and imaginative.”

Buro Stedelijk was established in 2022 as a collaboration between the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Rijksakademie and De Ateliers. Under the leadership of founding curators Azu Nwagbogu and Rita Ouédraogo, it has grown into a vital space connecting artistic experimentation with the city and its communities. Jo-Lene Ong succeeds Rita Ouédraogo, whose term concluded at the end of 2025. The curator of Buro Stedelijk is appointed for a three-year term and operates with a high degree of independence, in consultation with Buro Stedelijk’s advisory board.