Iwona Blazwick

Iwona Maria Blazwick OBE She is married to Richard Noble, a Canadian philosopher and head of fine art at Goldsmiths University of London.

Early life and education Blazwick was brought up in Blackheath, South East London. She is the child of Polish architects who both painted and inspired her passion for art and design. She is series editor of Whitechapel Gallery/ MIT Documents of Contemporary Art.

In June 2022 she became head of the public art expert panel of the Royal Commission for Al-'Ula in Saudi Arabia.

When the Istanbul Biennial’s advisory board unanimously chose Defne Ayas as curator for the event’s 2024 edition, the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) rejected the board’s recommendation and instead appointed Blazwick; at the time of her selection, Blazwick was a serving member of the advisory panel tasked with choosing a curator for the biennial. Responding to public criticism, Blazwick stepped down in early 2024. Blazwick is series editor of Documents of Contemporary Art; co-published with MIT Press these anthologies bring together the most important texts by artists, critics and historians on the big themes in art today, ranging from Participation to Failure.

Other activities Blazwick chaired the Cultural Strategy Group at London's City Hall, appointed by Mayor Boris Johnson. She also served on the advisory boards of the Government Art Collection; Sculpture in the City; and the Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth Commission.

Blazwick has sat on several art prize juries, including for the Turner Prize (1993), the Jerwood Painting Prize (1997), the 2002 Wexner Prize (as a member of Ohio's Wexner Center's International Arts Advisory Council), the Clark Prize for Writing (2010/12), the Menil Collection's Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement (2011) and the John Moores Painting Prize (2012). She was part of the juries that selected Helen Cammock as recipient of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in 2018 and Nalini Malani as recipient of the Joan Miró Prize in 2019. She is a standing member of the jury for Film London's Jarman Award. She has sat on the selection panel of the Sky Academy Arts Scholarship.

Blazwick was on the advisory board of Documenta 13, jury for the 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 Istanbul Biennale. In 2021, she was part of the search committee that helped select Kasia Redzisz and Bernard Blistène as artistic directors of KANAL - Centre Pompidou.

Additional roles include: MAXXI, Member of the Board Harewood House, Member of the Board of Trustees Istanbul Biennale, Member of the Advisory Board Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Member of the Advisory Board

Recognition Blazwick was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to art in the 2008 New Year Honours.