ABOUT NANA
ARTIST MANAGEMENT, EXHIBITIONS AND CULTURAL PARTNERSHIPS.
NANA is an independent contemporary art agency founded in Paris by the art expert Annelise Stern in 2025.
We represent contemporary artists, advise on career development, curate and produce exhibitions, and build collaborations with institutions and brands. Our work connects the decisions made in an artist’s studio with the people, resources and opportunities that allow a practice to develop.
WHAT WE DO
1/ ARTIST MANAGEMENT & CAREER STRATEGY
Representing an artist means making choices with consequences: which exhibitions to pursue, how to position the work, which relationships to develop and when to decline an opportunity.
NANA works with a selected roster of represented artists on artistic positioning, collector relationships, institutional opportunities and commercial development.
For artists working independently, our private sessions and workshops address specific challenges: presenting a body of work, structuring a portfolio, approaching collectors or preparing an exhibition.
2/ CURATORIAL PRACTICE & EXHIBITION PRODUCTION
We conceive, curate and produce exhibitions, installations and artistic projects, from the first proposition to their public presentation.
Our work brings together the curatorial concept, the choice of setting, production requirements and the partners needed to make a project happen. The format follows the work: a museum exhibition, a public installation and a performance each demand different decisions.
3/ CULTURAL PARTNERSHIPS
We develop collaborations between artists, institutions, brands and private organisations.
The starting point is a specific artistic proposition and a reason for working together. We define the concept, the artist’s role and the conditions of production so that each partner understands what they are helping to create.
An artwork should have a reason to be there and that is the first question we ask.
Photographer: Sylvie Castioni
ANNELISE STERN
FOUNDER NANA / PARIS & EUROPE
Annelise Stern began working in contemporary art in 2017, founding New Art Generation at 18 to create exhibition opportunities for young artists. Her subsequent work includes running the independent gallery Art Girls, co-founding Gxrls Revolution, and developing exhibitions and collaborations across Europe.
NANA brings together the questions that emerged from that experience: how artists establish a position, how recognition develops, and how a project acquires the resources and relationships it needs to exist.
Alongside her work with artists, Annelise writes about contemporary art and the mechanisms of its market. Her research into curatorial betweenness examines the curator’s role between artistic, institutional, technological and economic environments.
WHY NANA ?
In French, nana is a familiar word for a woman. It is rarely the word chosen to announce authority. Annelise Stern made it the name of her agency. It reflects an interest that runs through NANA’s work: paying attention to a practice before its reputation has settled, forming a judgment and committing to what could follow.