Ann Mbuti (born 1990) is a professor of process design and an independent writer specialising in contemporary art, popular culture and processes of social transformation. Her work is situated at the intersection of theory and practice, with a particular interest in the interactions between art, discourse and the public. In addition to writing, her practice also includes curating, lecturing, moderating and running workshops and interdisciplinary research projects.

Her projects and publications have explored themes such as contemporary mythologies, science fiction and the merging of fact and fiction. She explores cultural narratives and the potential of artistic processes to initiate social, political and environmental change.

Ann lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland.

Own publications
Black Artists Now. Von El Anatsui bis Kara Walker; published by C.H. Beck.

Published in
frieze, e-flux, Documenta15 Handbook, Catalogue of the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2022, Texte zur Kunst, Monopol Magazine, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, STUDIO Magazine, ContemporaryAnd, SPEX, okayafrica, and others.

Current affairs
The Annzyklopädie column appears at regular intervals on DasLamm.ch.

Connecting the dots
After graduating from the University of Zurich with a BA in Media and Communication Studies and German Literature from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) with an MA in Cultural Journalism, Ann Mbuti expanded her expertise in Publishing, Editing, and Writing at the Royal College of Art (UK), in Critical Writing at Room Project Detroit (USA) and in Fiction Writing at the American University of Paris (FR).

After graduating, she began her career as a freelance art critic, working with museums, cultural institutions and companies, where she contributed her expertise in written art education and cultural analysis.

In 2017, she co-founded the online journal ‘kurious’, which explored new perspectives and forms in cultural journalism. In 2018, she gained in-depth practical experience during a traineeship at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 2020, she co-founded the ‘Public Fiction Group’, a transdisciplinary collective that explored and designed alternative realities. This initiative led to the creation of the «Public Fiction Network», a transdisciplinary collective of writers, filmmakers, theorists and curators.

In 2024, Mbuti was appointed Professor of Process Design at HyperWerk, part of the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel. As part of the Institute for Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM), the HyperWerk Lab focuses on how design can shape the way we live together. Her research is concerned with ‘making publics’ and investigates the processes by which things are made public and how publics are created.