Jo-Lene Ong

Birthplace

Ipoh, Malaysia

Biography

Jo-Lene Ong is a curator working across Asia and Europe. She will begin her role as Curator of Buro Stedelijk on 1 March. 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).