Rael Artel

Rael Artel (b. 1980 Estonia) is an independent contemporary art curator based in the forests of Estonia. She graduated from the Institute of Art History at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2003, and participated in the Curatorial Training Programme in De Appel Art Center, Amsterdam (2004–2005).

Since 2000 she has curated shows in Estonia as well as Warsaw, Lisbon, Amsterdam and New York. From 2004 to 2008 she ran and moderated her experimental project space Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space, and in 2007 she initiated Public Preparation, a platform for knowledge-production and network-based communication, which has, since the beginning of 2008, focused on issues of nationalism and contemporary art in Europe in the format of international meetings.

Her recent curatorial exhibitions include: Let’s Talk about Nationalism! Between Ideology and Identity, Kumu Art Museum (2010); Lost in Transition, Contemporary Museum of Art, Tallinn (2011); Art Must Be Beautiful. Selected Works by Marina Abramovic, Tartu Art Museum (2011); After Socialist Statues, KIM? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga (2011); Life in the Forest, Arsenal Gallery, Biaystok (2011). Artel is the artistic director of the festival of ontemporary art ART IST KUKU NU UT in Tartu.