French art critic, theoretician, and curator Nicolas Bourriaud (born 1965) was a cofounder and codirector of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2000–2006), Gulbenkian Curator for Contemporary Art at Tate Britain, and director of the l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He is currently the artistic director of Montpellier Contemporain, a new institution based in Montpellier, France, and dedicated to the contemporary arts. He is the author of the landmark publication Relational Aesthetics, first published in 1998, and still inspirational today for many artists, curators, and art professionals worldwide.
