Olivier Chow is the Founding Director of Foreign Agent, an art gallery based in Lausanne, Switzerland, showcasing and promoting emerging and established contemporary artists and designers from Africa and the Diaspora in a uniquely curated afro-futuristic environment. Foreign Agent takes part in international art fairs such as 1-54 London, New York and Marrakech, AKAA Paris, Unseen Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi Art and PAD.
A Swiss-Chinese citizen of the world, he studied political science in Geneva and holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, on the aesthetics of cruelty. In a previous life, he worked for UNESCO in Paris and for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kabul, Phnom Penh, Goma, Skopje, Kigali, Tel Aviv, Conakry, Port-au-Prince, Niamey, Pretoria and Geneva where he was the institutional advisor on torture.
He has published for Tate Papers, Sotheby’s, the International Review of the Red Cross, the HEAD (Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design in Geneva) and other peer-reviewed publications.
Olivier Chow is also a passionate art collector and his collection has been featured in Larry’s List and the BMW Art guide to Independent Collectors.
