Dr. Lora Sariaslan is Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Her academic focus is on modern and contemporary transnational art practices, cultural and identity politics, mobility and migration, and mapping the urban. She specializes in modern and contemporary cultures, curating, and museums and the intersection of the critical practices that transform collecting and presenting.

Lora Sariaslan received her B.A. in Art History from Knox College, Illinois, her M.A. in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin, and her Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam with her dissertation Pins on the Map: Urban Mappings in European-Turkish Contemporary Art.

In addition to being an academic, she has been a curator in different institutions globally. She was assistant curator at the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas (2001-2005) where she worked on exhibitons ranging from Henri Matisse to Salvador Dalí and as the curator at Istanbul Modern (2005-2011) she focused on the Venice Biennale, Hussein Chalayan, Ryan Trecartin, Fahrelnissa Zeid, and countless others. As an independent curator she has curated/ co-curated exhibitions internationally, among others: Life in the UK/ Balance of Probabilities as part of the 2nd Asia Triennial Manchester in the UK (2011), the 2nd Mardin Biennial: Double Take in Mardin, Turkey (2012), The Unknown Ara Güler, G-art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey (2013), This yearning is ours! at the Center of Contemporary Art in Torun, Poland (2016), More and more thoughts about Other Thoughts: Driton Selmani, U10, Belgrade, Serbia, What We Forget at Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam (2019), and Uncharted at Kunsthall 3,14 in Bergen, Norway (2023).

Her multidisciplinary practice encompasses the making of exhibitions, public programs, and publications, as well as researching, writing, and lecturing. Prior to her current position, she taught at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Amsterdam. A member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), Sariaslan is the National Correspondent for the European Museum Forum (EMF) for Turkey.