Ann Demeester

Ann Demeester is a Belgian literary scholar, art critic and museum director. She studied German philology at Ghent University and obtained her Master of Cultural Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. Her teacher in museum practice was the Flemish museum director, curator and curator Jan Hoet. Under his supervision, she organised exhibitions and projects both in Belgium (SMAK in Ghent and Poëziezomer 2000 in Watou) and in Germany (MARTa Herford). 

From 2003 to 2006, she was director of the exhibition and production centre for contemporary art W139 in Amsterdam. Then from May 2006 to January 2014 she was director of the Amsterdam art centre De Appel. Together with Kestutis Kuizinas she curated the X Baltic Triennial of International Art "Urban Stories" in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 2009.

Since 1 February 2014 she has been director of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. In addition, since 2020, she has been Extraordinary Professor of Art and Culture on the Anton van Duinkerken Chair at Radboud University Nijmegen.

During the corona crisis in the Netherlands in 2020 and 2021, Ann Demeester, as spokesperson for the cultural sector, regularly stood up for the essential position of culture in the society dominated by the pandemic.

In July 2021, she announced her departure from the Frans Hals Museum as of 1 February 2022. Demeester will become director of the Kunsthaus Zürich on 1 January 2023.