Basak Senova is a curator and designer. Since 2017, she has been living and working in Vienna. Senova studied Literature and Graphic Design (MFA in Graphic Design and PhD in Art, Design, and Architecture at Bilkent University) and attended the 7th Curatorial Training Programme at Stichting De Appel, Amsterdam. She lectured at various universities in Turkey as an assistant professor. In 2017, she received her Associate Professorship from the Higher Education Council of Turkey and a residency fellowship at the University of the Arts Helsinki in cooperation with HIAP. From 2020 to 2022, she was a Visiting Professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she ran the research based educational platform, the Octopus Programme. Currently, she holds the position of Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Senova has been writing on art, technology, and media, initiating and developing projects, and curating exhibitions since 1995. She is one of the founding members of NOMAD, as well as the organiser of the ctrl_alt_del sound art project and Upgrade! Istanbul. She has edited numerous publications, including art-ist 6, Kontrol Online Magazine, the Lapses book series, UNCOVERED, Aftermath, Obje’ct: Yane Calovski, The Move, The Translation, Scientific Inquiries, Cultural Massacre, Ahmet Elhan—Ground Glass, Lines of Passage (in medias res), The Discord: Benji Boyadgian, Shadow Optics, CrossSections: Processing Artistic and Curatorial Research, and Silent Activism. Barbara Holub, and The Octopus, among others. Senova worked as the editorial correspondent for ibraaz.org (2012–2016), served on the editorial board of PASS, the journal of the International Biennial Association (IBA) (2016–2023), and was the Turkish correspondent for Flash Art International (2014–2023). She also served as an advisory board member for the Turkish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Istanbul Biennial, and the Biennial of Contemporary Art, D-0 ARK Underground in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Between 2011 and 2012, she curated the Zorlu Centre Collection while simultaneously serving as editor of its publications.

Senova curated the Pavilion of Turkey at the 53rd Venice Biennale. She co-curated the UNCOVERED project (Cyprus, 2011–2013) and the 2nd and 5th Biennials of Contemporary Art, D-0 ARK Underground (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013 and 2019). She served as Art Gallery Chair of ACM SIGGRAPH 2014 (Vancouver), curated the Helsinki Photography Biennial 2014, and curated Jerusalem Show VII: Fractures (2014). In 2015, she curated the Pavilion of North Macedonia at the 56th Venice Biennale. In 2016, she curated Lines of Passage (in medias res) in Lesvos, and in 2019, the inaugural exhibition of B7L9, Climbing Through the Tide, in Tunis. Between 2017 and 2019, she worked on CrossSections, a research and process-based art project, and curated five group exhibitions and three solo exhibitions within the project’s framework in Vienna, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Rome. In 2022, she concluded the Octopus Programme with two exhibitions, one in Tunis and the other in Vienna. In the same year, she curated three group exhibitions: Ivy (Istanbul), Liquid Saturation (Palermo), and 2Fold (Kyrenia). In 2023, she was invited to curate a design project for Kunsthaus Dahlem Berlin in conjunction with the exhibition of Erich Buchholz, curated by Dorothea Shöne, and she also curated the group exhibition Simurgh. Ten Women Artists from Iran (Berlin). Between 2024 and 2026, her curatorial projects included Sediment (co-curated with Dicle Bestas) at <rotor> Galerie, Graz, Insaturo, a site specific performance by Egle Oddo and Rebecca Minten at the Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna, Intangible, an exhibition by The ZoNE at Rauminhalt, The Atlas at Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Mirror at Teatro Pirandello, Agrigento, as part of the Italian Capital of Culture 2025 programme, Soil & Water (co-curated with Johan Thom) at Nirox Sculpture Park, South Africa, and Soil & Water: Mediterranean Crossing at Art Rooms, Kyrenia.

Since 2022, she has been working on her arts-based research (PEEK) project, The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating-Conducting], funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (2022–2027).