The late MoMA curator Kirk Varnedoe instituted the “Artist’s Choice” series in 1989; since then, John Baldessari, Ellsworth Kelly and others have curated shows there. Now Mona Hatoum wields curatorial power: she has chosen a group of works from MoMA’s collection that reflect her own artistic sensibility, in that they are strongly conceptual, as well as possessing an arresting visual appeal (above, Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled”). Hatoum, who was born in Beirut, named the show “Here is elsewhere” since “most of the artists in the exhibition, because of their gender, sexual orientation, colour, or cultural background, speak from a critical position outside the status quo”. The show (7 November–2 February, 2004), which is co-curated with Fereshteh Daftari, assistant curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture, includes work by Cindy Sherman, Robert Gober and Yayoi Kusama.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Artist’s choice: Mona Hatoum. Here is elsewhere at MoMA QNS'