The New Museum in New York announced that Massimiliano Gioni, its longtime artistic director, has been named as the institution’s next director. He will take on the role beginning August 1. He succeeds Lisa Phillips, who announced her retirement, after 26 years, last September.
“After an extensive international search, we are thrilled to announce Massimiliano Gioni’s appointment as steward of the New Museum in its next chapter,” New Museum board president James-Keith Brown said in a statement. “Over the past twenty years, he played an essential role in the Museum’s evolution as a leading international destination for contemporary art through the groundbreaking exhibitions he has conceived, institutional partnerships he has built, mentorship he has provided to colleagues, and relationships he has forged across the globe.”
Gioni first joined the New Museum in 2006 as a curator and was then promoted to artistic director in 2014. During his tenure at the museum, he has been instrumental in shaping the institution’s curatorial vision, curating and co-curating dozens of exhibitions there. Among the most important of these is the New Museum Triennial, which he launched in 2009 as “The Generational Triennial: Younger Than Jesus,” with Lauren Cornell and Laura Hoptman as co-curators.
Other major thematic exhibitions include “After Nature” (in 2008), “Ostalgia” (2011), “Here and Elsewhere” (2014), “The Keeper” (2016), and “New Humans: Memories of the Future,” the museum’s current exhibition which inaugurates its expansion. In 2021, he realized, in collaboration with Naomi Beckwith, Glenn Ligon, and Mark Nash, “Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America” (2021), one of Okwui Enwezor’s final exhibitions.
Gioni has also worked on solo exhibitions for some of contemporary art’s most important 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, among others.
In addition to his work at the New Museum, Gioni has also helmed several international biennials, including the 2013 Venice Biennale, the 2010 Gwangju Biennale, the 2006 Berlin Biennale, and Manifesta 5 in 2004. He has also worked with several collector-founded organizations, including Dakis Joannou’s Deste Foundation, Eugenio López Alonso’s Museo Jumex, and Tony Salamé’s Aïshti Foundation.
Brown’s statement continues, “Massimiliano is a visionary curator and will make an exemplary director, embodying what this institution’s founder, Marcia Tucker, once described as ‘a truly great person with a profound curiosity about the world and the people in it, an interest that encompasses everything and everyone.’ He is an ideal leader to take the New Museum into a new era in our newly expanded campus.”
In his own statement, Gioni thanked the museum’s board and selection committee “for entrusting me with both the illustrious legacy of the institution and the tools to shape an exciting future ahead.”
He added, “It is a tremendous honor to be asked to lead the New Museum, following in the steps of giants like Marcia Tucker and Lisa Phillips. … I think of this appointment less as a recognition of my work than a vote of confidence in our entire institution and its staff. I am grateful to the many artists, colleagues, and supporters who together have built the New Museum into the globally respected and beloved institution that we are so proud to call home.”
