Ute Meta Bauer is a curator of exhibitions and presentations on contemporary art, film, video and sound that connect artistic work with other disciplines. Since 2013, Bauer has served as a professor at NTU School of Art, Design and Media and as founding director of the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, where she co-chairs the MA in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practice. Prior she was Dean of Fine Art at the Royal College of Art, London, UK (2012/2013) and associate professor (2005-2023), MIT SA+P, Cambridge, MA, where she served as founding director of the Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT).

She was a co-curator of Documenta 11 (2001–2002), in the team of artistic director Okwui Enwezor, artistic director of the 3rd Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2004). In 2015, she co-curated the US Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennial with Paul Ha, director of the MIT List Centre for Visual Art, presenting eminent artist Joan Jonas. She currently serves as co-curator for the 17th Istanbul Biennial, alongside David Teh and Amar Kanwar and as curator of the Singapore Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennial, featuring artist Shubigi Rao. Between 2018 and 2021 she was an editor of Afterall – a Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry.