theartnewspaper.com, 20 January 2006
Guggenheim hires its first curator of Asian art
By Jason Edward Kaufman

NEW YORK. Alexandra Munroe, who resigned as vice president of arts and
culture at Japan Society in New York last summer, has been hired as the
Guggenheim Museum’s first full-time curator of Asian art.

The Guggenheim has been seeking to open a branch in Asia, exploring
partnerships in Hong Kong and Singapore, among other possibilities, and
the creation is an indication of the institution’s commitment to
expanding Asian programming and acquisitions.

Ms Munroe guest-curated a survey of postwar Japanese art “Scream against
the sky” at the Guggenheim SoHo branch in 1994, and recently mounted an
exhibition at the Japan Society curated by Takashi Murakami. Most
recently, she has been working on an exhibition about the influence of
Asian art on American modernism to be shown at the Guggenheim in 2009
and will possibly travel internationally.

The museum has also hired Monica Ramirez-Montagut as assistant curator
for architecture and design. She has served as a curator at the Price
Tower Art Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, which is fundraising to
build an exhibition space designed by the Iraqi-born, British architect
Zaha Hadid.

Ms Ramirez-Montagut will assist Italian curator Germano Celant on an
exhibition devoted to Ms Hadid scheduled to open at the Guggenheim this
summer. She will also provide in-house expertise on the ongoing
restoration of the Guggenheim’s Wright building on Fifth Avenue.

The announcements come as the Guggenheim is relocating its offices from
575 Broadway in SoHo to new quarters at 345 Hudson Street. Rents in SoHo
have soared since the Guggenheim opened a branch there in 1990, forcing
out neighbours including the New Museum and Museum of African Art.

Despite high visitor numbers, the Guggenheim SoHo proved a cash drain
and it closed in 2001. Rather than renew its lease with building owner
and collector Peter Brant, the Guggenheim opted to move to cheaper
space, signing a 10-year lease for a 40,000 square feet converted
warehouse owned by Trinity Church.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article01.asp?id=141

 

 

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold (Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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