Meet the Contributing Curators for Public Art Highlights 2024
UAP, in partnership with Artsy, is excited to announce the distinguished curators who will contribute to this year’s Best in Public Art.
This annual collaboration celebrates the most impactful public art from around the world, selected by influential figures in the field. The curators include Felicity Fenner, Joanna Warsza, Justine Ludwig, Marina Reyes Franco, Sebastian Betancur-Montoya, Natasha Smith, and Danielle Robson.
This year's edition represents an important milestone, coming after the recent release of Public Art in Review, Volume 1 (2019-2023). The curatorial selections for 2024 will be featured in Volume 2, highlighting the latest trends and insights in public art.
The curators offer unique expertise that enriches the selection by incorporating perspectives from urban landscapes, social issues, cultural movements, and more. Their contributions will highlight innovative projects that are shaping the global conversation about public art.
Felicity Fenner
Felicity Fenner is a curator of contemporary and public art. Based at UNSW Art & Design, she is Chair of the City of Sydney’s Public Art Advisory Panel and a public art advisor on local and state government infrastructure projects.
Her books include 'Curating in a time of Ecological Crisis: biennales as agents of change’ (Routledge, 2022) and 'Running the City: why public art matters' (NewSouth, 2017). She is currently working on an anthology about new directions in public art, ‘Shifting Ground: the evolving role of art in the Australian public domain’ (Formist, 2025).
Joanna Warsza
Joanna Warsza is a City Curator of Hamburg and an interdependent curator, editor, art writer and educator. She co-curated the Polish Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, with the work of Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, the first Roma artist to be shown in any national pavilion. She has curated numerous biennials, city projects, exhibitions, and conferences, such as the 7th Berlin Biennale (as associate curator) and 3 and 4 Autostrada Biennale in Kosovo.
Justine Ludwig
Justine Ludwig is a curator and writer who currently serves as the Executive Director of Creative Time, New York's vanguard public art organization. Previously held curatorial positions include the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and Dallas Contemporary. She has curated projects with many artists including Shilpa Gupta, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Pedro Reyes, Laercio Redondo, Paola Pivi, and Pia Camil. Her research interests include the intersections of aesthetics and violence, economics, and globalization. Ludwig has an MA in Global Arts from Goldsmiths University of London and a BA in Art with a concentration in Art History from Colby College.
Marina Reyes Franco
Marina Reyes Franco is curator at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC). Some of her recent projects include Tropical is Political: Caribbean Art Under the Visitor Economy Regime, at Americas Society, MAC, and Mead Museum; El momento del yagrumo, at MAC; Resisting Paradise, at Pública, San Juan, and Fonderie Darling, Montreal; Watch Your Step / Mind Your Head, at ifa-Galerie Berlin; and La 2da Gran Bienal Tropical in Loíza. As curator at MAC, she has also led the commissioning of works inside and outside the museum by Daniel Lind Ramos (co-curated with Marianne Ramírez Aponte), Tony Cruz Pabón, Eliazar Ortiz Roa, Julianny Ariza, and La Vaughn Belle, among others. In 2010, alongside Gala Berger, she co-founded the La Ene project in Buenos Aires, which she directed until 2014. As curator and researcher, she has focused on Esteban Valdés’ work, artistic and literary manifestations bordering on political action, and the impact of tourism on Caribbean cultural production.
Sebastian Betancur-Montoya
Sebastián blends his expertise in landscape architecture, urbanism, and sculpture to create public art that resonates with diverse social and ecological contexts. With academic credentials in architecture and gallery practice and a background in fabrication, his 20-year career across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East reflects an intersection of global politics, mobility, and environmental sensitivity. His approach to public art extends beyond traditional materials, embracing multimedia elements like performance and light to engage with public spaces dynamically.
Challenging conventional public art, Sebastián explores themes of fragility, horizontality, and adaptability, countering typical associations with solidity and permanence. His work, often seen as permanent sculptures, has evolved into various forms, including research, exhibitions, and guerrilla installations in cities like Berlin, Doha, and Shanghai. Based in the Middle East, he collaborates with Qatar Museums, lectures at VCU Qatar, and is curating the 2025 Tuwaiq Sculpture Symposium in Saudi Arabia.
Natasha Smith
Natasha Smith leads the UAP Curatorial Team globally, with teams located across Australia, China and the United States. Highly skilled in curating art for the public realm, Smith has developed art masterplans and strategies, conducted creative placemaking and delivered art programs for commercial developments for over 15 years. Throughout her career, she has master-planned art for cities and community spaces globally, across Australia, the Middle East, Asia, the United States and Europe.
Beginning her career with degrees in Fine Arts with Art History, and postgraduate studies in Art Curatorship and Museum Studies from the University of Canterbury in Aotearoa New Zealand, Smith worked in the commercial and public arts sectors within the Asia Pacific region prior to joining UAP in 2009. She is a current board member of not-for-profit arts organisation, Outer Space, Brisbane, and has previously served on the Curatorial Panel for the Queens Wharf Brisbane redevelopment.
Smith has worked closely with leading contemporary artists from around the globe, including but not limited to: Arne Quinze, Brook Andrew, Emily Floyd, Jeppe Hein, Judy Watson, Lindy Lee, Michael Lin, Reko Rennie, Richard Sweeney, Reuben Paterson, Timo Nasseri, and Ugo Rondinone.
Danielle Robson
Danielle Robson is Principal | Senior Curator at UAP. She is responsible for curatorial leadership across a range of projects in Australia and globally, as well as managing UAP’s Australia Curatorial Team across Syndey, Melbourne and Brisbane. Robson has 20 years of experience working within arts institutions, companies and independently to connect artists and designers with audiences and organisations. Robson has previously held roles as Director | Public Art Curator at curatorial consultancy Soda Arts, Co-Founder | Director of arts consultancy company, ArtsPeople, and Creative Program Manager at the Australian Design Centre. She is also a former Board Member of SafARI Initiatives. Robson holds a Master of Curating & Cultural Leadership and a Bachelor of Law and Media. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Contemporary Cultural Practice & Public Art at UNSW Art & Design.
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