Sumantro Ghose will join London Design Biennale as Managing Director, overseeing its development ahead of the 2018 launch. Ghose is an Arts Programmer and Curator with more than 20 years’ experience within the arts and culture industry. He recently returned from the Gulf, where he was Exhibitions and Programmes Director at Etihad Museum, Dubai, and Director of International Programmes at Qatar Museums Authority. In the UK, he was CEO and Cultural Programmes Director at Asia House, and he has worked and consulted for museums and institutions including Tate, the National Portrait Gallery, Frieze and Sotheby’s Institute. As an educator and writer, Ghose focuses on modern and contemporary art and cultural relations, and has contributed to The Independent, The Guardian and Modern Painters.

Ghose will assume responsibility for the development and delivery of the 2018 London Design Biennale, working alongside the event’s Founders, Sir John Sorrell CBE and Ben Evans, and its previous Director, Dr Christopher Turner, who will remain as Artistic Director in 2018 following his appointment as Head of Design, Architecture and Digital collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

‘I’m thrilled to be joining London Design Biennale in time for its second edition in 2018. I look forward to welcoming influential curators, designers, architects, artists and thinkers from around the world this year,’ says Ghose.

Sir John Sorrell CBE, President of the Biennale, says: ‘Design is an international language and Sumi Ghose will bring valuable international experience to London Design Biennale, strengthening our team for this truly global gathering of leading design nations.’