MILAN (AP) -- The Venice Biennale has named the chief curator of the Pompidou Center to oversee the next contemporary art exhibit in 2017.

Paolo Baratta, the president of Venice Biennale, said in a statement Saturday that Christine Macel was chosen for her commitment `‘to emphasizing the important role artists play in inventing their own universes.’‘

Macel has been chief curator at the French national modern art museum at the Pompidou Center since 2000, and was the curator of the French Pavilion at the Biennale in 2013 and of the Belgian Pavilion in 2007.

The 57th International Art Exhibition will run from May 13-Nov. 26, 2017.  The last Biennale art show, curated by Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor and closed in November, attracted record numbers, topping half a million visitors over seven months.