Hedwig Fijen has stepped down as director of Manifesta, the European Nomadic Biennial, after 33 years leading the organisation she founded. The International Foundation Manifesta announced the departure on 26 October, paying tribute to Fijen as the driving force behind the biennial since its first edition in Rotterdam in 1996.

Under Fijen's leadership, Manifesta grew into an international platform for artistic experimentation, cultural exchange and reflection on Europe's changing social, political and cultural landscape. Each edition takes place in a new European setting, often in places where geopolitical tensions are never far away, from Palermo in 2018 and Pristina in 2022 to Barcelona in 2024 and the Ruhr region in 2026. She widened the biennial's methods along the way, introducing collective curating, urban visions, citizens' assemblies and alternative forms of mediation that have since become part of its vocabulary.

Manifesta now moves to a co-leadership model. Emilia van Lynden, who has been part of the foundation since 2019 and served as deputy director, becomes general director, while the Berlin-based Australian curator Catherine Nichols becomes artistic director. Nichols previously worked with Manifesta as a creative mediator for its 2022 edition and as a member of the artistic board for the 2026 edition. The pair will lead the organisation together, beginning with Manifesta 17 in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2028.

Fijen was commissioned in 1991 by the Netherlands Office for Fine Arts in The Hague to develop a pan-European platform, and she has directed Manifesta ever since. In its farewell message, the foundation thanked her for her dedication, creativity, vision and courage, and for the legacy she leaves behind after more than three decades.