Massimiliano Gioni Appointed Director of the New Museum
By Polly Watson
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The New Museum in New York has named Massimiliano Gioni as its new director, beginning August 1. Gioni, who has served as the institution’s artistic director since 2014, succeeds Lisa Phillips, who announced her departure last fall after twenty-six years in the role. He is the third person to lead the museum since its 1977 founding as the New Museum of Contemporary Art under the directorship of Marcia Tucker.
Gioni joined the New Museum in 2006 as a curator, rising to become associate director in 2010 before assuming his most recent role. He has been influential in shaping the institution’s program, perhaps most notably founding the New Museum Triennial, which he inaugurated, alongside cocurators Lauren Cornell and Laura Hoptman, in 2009 under the title The Generational Triennial: Younger Than Jesus.
Among the many exhibitions Gioni has organized at the museum are the landmark group shows “After Nature” (2008) and “Ostalgia” (2011), as well as the current “New Humans: Memories of the Future,” the first exhibition in the institution’s newly opened expanded digs. He has curated solo exhibitions of artists including John Akomfrah, Lynda Benglis, Judy Chicago, Nicole Eisenman, Urs Fischer, Theaster Gates, Hans Haacke, Camille Henrot, Carsten Höller, Ragnar Kjartansson, Sarah Lucas, Marta Minujin, Chris Ofili, Faith Ringgold, Pipilotti Rist, Anri Sala, and Nari Ward.
Gioni is also a veteran curator of biennials, having curated the Fifty-Fifth Venice Biennale (2013) the Eighth Gwangju Biennale (2010), the Fourth Berlin Biennale (2006), and Manifesta 5 (2004).
“When we thought about who’s the best person to lead the organization, we wanted somebody who thinks globally,” New Museum president James-Keith Brown told the New York Times, describing the institution’s rigorous search for a new director. “At the end of the day,” said Brown, “our conclusion was that our best person was right in front of us.”
This article was originally published by Artforum.