The Biennale de Lyon has announced Hélia Paukner as its new artistic director, effective February 1, 2027. Pauker will also take over the directorship of the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (macLYON), her appointment maintaining the long-standing partnership between the Biennale and the museum. She succeeds Isabelle Bertolotti, who has occupied both roles since 2019.
Paukner arrives to the French organization from Marseille’s Mucem – the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, a national museum of cultural anthropology, where she has served as curator and head of contemporary art since 2019. Among the exhibitions she curated at that institution are solo shows of French artist and filmmaker Clément Cogitore (2025–26) and Turner Prize–winning multimedia artist Laure Prouvost (2025), as well as a retrospective of Egyptian-born artist Ghada Amer (2022), the largest to date in France.
Her appointment marks a return to Lyon for Paukner, who a decade ago was research assistant to the director at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. Before moving on to Mucem, she served on selection panels for art schools and artist residencies. Between 2020 and 2025, she helped the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azure Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs allocate grants to artists.
In her new roles, Paukner will be in charge of selecting each Biennale’s curator. She will also oversee the Lyon Dance Biennale, which alternates years with the art event.
The Lyon Dance Biennale was established in 1984. The Biennale de Lyon was founded in 1991. Its eighteenth edition, curated by Catherine Nichols, is on view through December 13.