Beatrice Leanza

Co-Founder (B/Side Design)

Beijing, CN

Beatrice Leanza has a diverse background in the fields of art, design and architecture and has recently joined the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in Lisbon as its new executive director. She previously worked as the creative director and co-founder of The Global School, China’s first independent institute dedicated to design and creative research, and B/Side Design, an organization developing strategies of urban and social impact in areas of socioeconomic transformation in China. Based in Beijing since 2002, she founded creative studio BAO Atelier in 2006, and served as creative director of Beijing Design Week from 2012 to 2016. Beatrice is chief curator of the international research program “Across Chinese Cities,” featured at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014, 2016 and 2018, and is a member of the international advisory board of Design Trust (Hong Kong). She earned an MA in Asian studies from Ca’Foscari University, and began her career working with Ai Weiwei as a curator at China Art Archives and Warehouse. Her book “Ideas in Action – Critical Design Practice in China” was published in 2016.

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