Comings and Goings

This month:

 

Renaissance Society, Chicago, names Solveig Øvstebø as new executive director

The Renaissance Society, Chicago, has named Solveig Øvstebø as its executive director. Øvstebø joins the institution from the Bergen Kunsthall in Norway, where she served as the director since 2003. Aside from overseeing the Renaissance Society’s overall operations, Øvstebø will also serve as its chief curator. She is due to begin her position in June. She succeeds the long-time director Susanne Ghez, who has led the institution since 1973, mounting exhibitions for artists such as Julian Schnabel in the 1970s and Jeff Koons in the 1980s.

Dallas Museum of Art names Sabiha Al Khemir as first senior advisor for Islamic art

The Dallas Museum of Art has named Sabiha Al Khemir, the founding director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, as its first senior advisor for Islamic art. Al Khemir is due to work on exhibition presentation and strengthening the museum’s ties with international institutions. Her appointment is to last three years.

Tim Knox to head Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Tim Knox, currently the director of Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, will become the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, in April. The Fitzwilliam has not had a director since Timothy Potts left in September to become the director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. At Soane’s, Knox oversaw the raising of £7m for the “Opening up the Soane” project, which includes a new exhibition gallery and conservation studios.

Critic Kieran Long to be senior curator of architecture, design and digital at V&A

The architecture critic Kieran Long has been appointed the senior curator of contemporary architecture, design and digital at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Long has been the critic for London’s Evening Standard since January 2010, which he joined after leaving his position as editor-in-chief of The Architectural Review and its sister publication, The Architect’s Journal.

Udo Kittelmann to curate Russian Pavilion in Venice

Udo Kittelmann, the director of the State Museums in Berlin, has been named the curator of the Russian Pavilion for the 2013 Venice Biennale. Vadim Zakharov, who is representing Russia for the edition, proposed Kittelmann to the pavilion’s commissioner Stella Kesaeva. Kittlemann and Zakharov have been working together on projects since the 1990s.

Mark Sladen to curate Lismore Castle exhibition

Mark Sladen, who left his post as the director of the Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen this past autumn, is due to curate “Monuments”, an exhibition of international artists for Lismore Castle, Ireland. Sladen was previously the director of exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, from 2007 to 2010 and curator at the Barbican Centre, London, from 2005 to 2007.

Centre Pompidou Foundation hires Sylvia Chivaratanond as adjunct curator of American art

The Centre Pompidou Foundation has named Sylvia Chivaratanond as its adjunct curator of American art. The independent writer and curator has worked on projects dealing with Ed Ruscha, Matthew Barney, and Robert Gober, among others and has mounted shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Tate, London.

Blanton Museum appoints Veronica Roberts as modern and contemporary art curator

The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, has appointed Veronica Roberts as its modern and contemporary art curator. Blanton will be leaving her position as adjunct associate curator of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and is currently working on the catalogue raisonné of Sol LeWitt’s drawings. She previously worked at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, as a curatorial assistant.

Rocco Landesman stepping down as chairman of NEA

Rocco Landesman is stepping down as the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at the end of the year. Landesman, who has helmed the national grant-making organisation since 2009, was a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer prior to taking the post. Joan Shigekawa, the senior deputy chairman of the NEA, will take over on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is named.

Heritage lawyer Douglas Connell made chair of Museums Galleries Scotland

The heritage lawyer Douglas Connell has been made the chair of the board of Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS), a non-profit trust. Connell is the former chairman of both the Edinburgh Book Festival and the Lottery Committee of the Scottish Arts Council. He joins MGS as it prepares to become the national development body for Scottish museums and galleries, working with the Scottish government, but as an independent charitable trust, to support the country’s institutions.

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