Mariam Elnozahy Appointed Chief Curator of the 2nd Ulaanbaatar Biennale

The Ulaanbaatar Biennale has announced the appointment of Mariam Elnozahy as chief curator of its second edition. Titled Love Songs for Mountains, the Biennale will take place from 4–30 June 2027 at sites across Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

About Mariam Elnozahy

Mariam Elnozahy is a curator, researcher and writer. She currently serves as Artistic Director of Konsthall C in Stockholm, where her programme Sacred Spaces invites artists to address questions of religion and society.

Previously, she worked at the Townhouse Gallery for Contemporary Art in Cairo and Ma3azef Magazine. She has curated exhibitions in London, Copenhagen, Oslo, Uppsala, Amsterdam and Jeddah, and led workshops in Tunis and Tangiers.

Her programmes often address histories of globalisation, development and resource extraction, while supporting artists at various stages of conceptualisation and production. Her writing has appeared in CURA Magazine, Frieze, The TLS, The Markaz Review, Hyperallergic and Mada Masr.

From 2022–2023, Elnozahy was a resident at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, where she conducted research in the archive of Royal Dutch Shell. She holds a master’s degree from the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Selection Committee

Elnozahy was unanimously selected by a committee comprising Gantuya B., Director of the Mongolian Contemporary Art Support Association; artist and Contemporary Art Archive Mongolia Director Jantsankhorol Erdenebayar; Arts Council of Mongolia Executive Director Odgerel Odonchimed; curator and inaugural Ulaanbaatar Biennale Chief Curator Tian Zhang; and Dr Saara Hacklin, Chief Curator for Collections at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Finnish National Gallery.

About the Ulaanbaatar Biennale

Organised by the Arts Council of Mongolia, the Ulaanbaatar Biennale takes place every two years. It serves as a meeting point for Mongolian artists, audiences and the cultural sector, connecting them with artists, cultures, information and ideas from other parts of the world.

The title Love Songs for Mountains is credited to Noorani Metal Sound (2026), an artwork by Zahra Malkani, one of the featured artists in the Biennale’s second edition.