Nato Thompson is an award winning author, curator, entrepreneur and self-described “cultural infrastructure builder”. He believes deeply in the power of art to galvanize new ideas and new forms of community.

Thompson began his career as Curator at MASS MoCA, where he completed numerous large-scale exhibitions such as The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere, a survey of political art of the 1990s. He was the Chief Curator and then Artistic Director for the public art organization Creative Time in New York where he gained vast experience in the production of memorable public art such as Kara Walker’s A Subtlety, Paul Chan’s Waiting for Godot, Ramírez Jonas’s Key to the City, and Trevor Paglen’s The Last Pictures. At Creative Time he organized numerous summits on art and social justice. Thompson was a Partner at artw rld where he worked with contemporary artists to make high end digital artworks. He worked with Philadelphia Contemporary on a project to build a 21st century museum in Philadelphia. Thompson is currently the Founder and Director of The Alternative Art School, an online art school connecting the world's most visionary artists with working artists around the globe.

He has worked with some of the most prominent names in contemporary art such as Paul Pfeiffer, Pedro Reyes, Shirin Neshat, Jeremy Deller, Tania Bruguera, Simone Leigh, Arthur Jaffa, Jeffrey Gibson, Dinos Chapman, Superflex, Mickalene Thomas, Michael Rakowitz, Duke Riley and hundreds more. 

Thompson’s writings have appeared in numerous publications including ArtForum, Huffington Post, PBS, Art Journal, Parkett, Cabinet, and The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. He is the author of several books and catalogs, including Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century and Culture as Weapon: The Art of Influence in Everyday Life.

He earned an MA in Arts Administration & Policy in 2001, and also holds a BA in Political Theory from the University of California at Berkeley.

Thompson lives and works in Philadelphia and New York City. He is also a joy to work with, and actually likes people and art.