Dr. Smadar Sheffi is a curator, art critic, and scholar of contemporary art and culture. She is the  Curator of Contemporary Art at the Beit Bialik Museum in Tel Aviv. In 2019 she founded CACR – the Center for Contemporary Art, Ramla, and was its chief curator until its closure in 2024 due to budget cuts following the war that began on October 7. Since 2024, she curates  an annual literature/art project in collaboration with the French Institute in Tel Aviv, and works as an independent curator at various institutions, including the Eretz Israel Museum, Beit Liebling, and the Jerusalem Artists House.

Sheffi holds a PhD in Art History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lectures at the School of Design and Innovation at the College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon LeZion. She has previously taught at Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University. She also lectures in non-academic frameworks, including the House for Israeli Art.

In 2023, as part of the celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of Bialik’s birth, the Tel Aviv–Yafo Municipality published her book Art. Bialik., which documents the exhibitions alongside an anthology of Bialik’s writings that inspired them.

Sheffi served as art critic for Haaretz from 1992 to 2012, and for Galei Tzahal radio station from 2007 to 2023. She currently appears regularly on various media platforms, particularly on Kan Tarbut. In addition, she publishes in Culture and Literature in Haaretz, writes essays for exhibition catalogues and exhibition texts, works as an art consultant, and leads in-depth tours focusing on Israeli and international art.