Catherine Somzé is a Belgian-Egyptian lecturer, researcher and art writer based in Amsterdam. She teaches modern and contemporary art, film and visual culture at the Willem de Kooning Academy and Erasmus University College and is Chair of the joint Examination Board of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Institute.
Alongside her teaching, Somzé is conducting PhD research at Erasmus University Rotterdam with a four-year research grant from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Her research examines cultural entrepreneurship education in Dutch art and design higher education from a feminist perspective, with a particular focus on how gender shapes students’ preparation for and entry into professional artistic practice. She is also a member of the Dutch Council for Culture’s committee for Visual Arts and Post-academic Institutions and works as a freelance art writer and critic.
Somzé studied Art History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and holds graduate degrees in Film and Television Studies and Media Studies from the University of Amsterdam.