Maria Hlavajova, artistic director of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst (Utrecht) explores the potential of the art institution to serve as a public site for criticality and dialogue using the example of BAK, which she founded in 2003.

She is also initiator and artistic director of the project Former West (2008-2013), a research, education, publication, and exhibition undertaking, realized through an international collaborative effort involving a dense network of researchers and art institutions. In 2008 Hlavajova co-curated Once is Nothing (with Charles Esche), the joint contribution of BAK and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven to the Brussels Biennale 1. She curated the three-part project Citizens and Subjects, the Dutch contribution to the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. She also regularly edits and contributes to numerous critical readers and catalogs internationally.