Stefanie Hessler is a curator, writer, editor, and the director of Swiss Institute (SI) New York. She has collaborated with over 300 artists, 50 organizations, and dozens of researchers across all continents. Originally from Germany, she has worked as a curator across exhibitions and biennales from Athens to São Paulo, Kochi to Montreal, Trondheim to Berlin.

She has presented some of the most celebrated artists of today, including Joan Jonas, Tomas Saraceno, and Christine Sun Kim as well as nurtured careers of emerging artists who are currently having their big break, such as Saodat Ismailova, Lap-See Lam, Ali Cherri, and Raven Chacon. In addition to her role at Swiss Institute, Hessler is curator of the Pavilion of Finland at the 61st Biennale Arte in Venice; the 2026 Counterpublic Triennial in St. Louis; and Parcours at Art Basel in Basel. Previously Hessler served as the Director of Kunsthall Trondheim in Norway.

Her selected projects as an independent curator include the 17th Momenta Biennale: Sensing Nature, Montreal; Rising Tides/Down to Earth, Gropius Bau, Berlin; Joan Jonas: Moving Off the Land II, Ocean Space, Venice; the symposium Practices of Attention, 33rd Bienal de São Paulo; and the 6th Athens Biennale. Hessler is the author of Prospecting Ocean (MIT Press) and has edited over a dozen volumes.