Alice, Nien-pu, Ko

Nien-pu Ko (Alice) is a New York-based curator and writer specializing in contemporary art, moving images, and transnational art histories. Her research-driven practice engages with suppressed histories, post-war legacies, and decolonial narratives, exploring archival disruptions, spatial politics, and memory-making across borders.  ​

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Since 2013, Ko has curated exhibitions and projects across museums, biennials, and independent platforms, fostering critical dialogues on contemporary art and historical memory. She previously held a curatorial position at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA), where she co-curated major exhibitions, including Tony Oursler: Black Box (2021) and the Pan Austro-Nesian Arts Festival (2021), and contributed to SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now (2019), a landmark touring exhibition co-organized with Mori Art Museum. Her exhibition Tomb of the Soul, Temple, Machine and the Self (2018) was nominated for the 17th Taishin Arts Award, Taiwan’s most prestigious contemporary art prize.  ​

 

Building on this institutional experience, Ko has expanded her practice internationally, collaborating with museums, biennials, and cultural organizations across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. She was a curator-in-residence at ISCP New York (2022) and has recently organized exhibitions such as Singing in Unison Part 8: Between Waves (Brooklyn Rail, 2023–24) and A Dweller on Two Planets (Microscope Gallery, 2023), both of which examine the politics of visibility and Cold War afterlives. As an independent curator, she has worked with the Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Tokyo Arts and Space, and other international platforms.  

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Ko has presented her research at The 11th International Convention of Asia Scholars and the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Conference. She has published extensively on artists such as Shigeko Kubota, Chen Chieh-Jen, Dumb Type, Jane Jin Kaisen, Tony Oursler, Ho Tzu Nyen, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. She is the editor of Tony Oursler: Black Box, Comparisons and Intersections of Art Histories in Southeast Asia, and Surviving on Time: Curatorial Report from Asia.

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Her curatorial work continues to explore transnational memory and postcolonial legacies, with a particular focus on site-responsive and research-based exhibitions that reframe suppressed histories in contemporary art. Through exhibitions, writing, and collaborations, she seeks to engage institutions, artists, and audiences in rethinking historical narratives and speculative futures.