Charles Esche is a curator, director, writer, and Afterall publisher. In April 2014, he was awarded Bard College’s Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. The prize honored multiple things including Esche’s endless commitment to rethinking what art can do and be. He currently directs the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and over the past two decades has been involved in exhibitions such as: Strange and Close, CAPC, Bordeaux (2011); An Idea for Living, the U3 Slovene Triennial (2011); the 2nd and 3rd Riwaq Biennales, Ramallah, Palestine (2007/2009); the 9th International Istanbul Biennial (2005); and the 4th Gwangju Biennale (2002). He curated the 31st São Paulo 113 Biennial which opened in the fall of 2014 and was involved in the recently opened Jakarta Biennale 2015.