Suzanne Wallinga

Background

About Suzanne Wallinga

Suzanne Wallinga is the Managing Director of the Cobra Museum of Modern Art in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. Deeply committed to modern and contemporary art, she has built a diverse career as a curator, initiator, and leader within the cultural field. As co-founder and former director of A Tale of a Tub in Rotterdam, Suzanne commissioned and presented works by artists such as Shezad Dawood, Ian Kiaer, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, Zarouhie Abdalian, Himali Singh Soin, Lee Kit, Kelly Schacht, and Igshaan Adams, among others. Under her direction, the institution explored the role of art in addressing urgent social, political, and ecological questions. She has served on the boards of several cultural organizations, including Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Shimmer (Rotterdam), and VHDG (Leeuwarden). In 2020, Suzanne was interim director of Amsterdam Art, strengthening the city’s position as an international hub for contemporary art. Recently, she advised De Brakke Grond (the Flemish Arts Centre in Amsterdam) on repositioning its visual arts program and contributed her expertise to the development of the new institutional profile of the Sonsbeek Foundation. She also collaborates with Taman Indonesia on a three-year cultural program connecting art, ecology, and public engagement. Earlier in her career, Suzanne was Artistic Director of TAG Platform for Contemporary Art and Music in The Hague, and she curated exhibitions for institutions such as the Kröller-Müller Museum, Frans Hals Museum | De Hallen Haarlem, CTM Festival, and De Ateliers. For three consecutive years, she organized Intersections, the non-profit section for performance and installation art at Art Rotterdam. As a curator, Suzanne explores how art, poetry, and philosophy can offer new perspectives on rationalism, modernity, and science. Her projects often expand into performances, readings, workshops, publications, and symposia. Since 2005, she has been active as a lecturer and advisor at institutions including the University of Amsterdam, Design Academy Eindhoven, De Appel, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, ArtEZ, and the Netherlands Film Academy. Suzanne studied Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology and earned her Master’s in Cultural Studies from the University of Amsterdam.