Four years after it was first announced, organizers of the much-anticipated Calder Gardens in Philadelphia have announced plans for an opening in September, as well as the appointment of veteran curator Juana Berrió as senior director of programs.
The Calder’s building was conceived by art world favorites Herzog and de Meuron and its gardens are designed by Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf. It is intended to host rotating selections of Alexander Calder’s works—including mobiles, stabiles, and paintings held by the Calder Foundation—in galleries, meadows, and sunken gardens across its 1.8 acres. The site, situated on the Benjamin Franklin Parkways, neighbors the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation.
The Barnes will provide administrative, operational, and educational programming support to Calder Gardens. The Barnes’s director, Thom Collins, said that “Juana Berrió brings significant cultural programming knowledge to Calder Gardens. Her expertise and ability to thoughtfully and meaningfully engage the community will be instrumental as we create a place where art and nature merge in a novel and exciting way.”
Berrió is currently the curatorial and sustainability adviser at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program in New York. She has organized programs across the United States and in her native Colombia.
Beginning January 21, she will be responsible for curating public programs that foster engagement, enrichment, and community, including performances, events, and wellness activities that resonate with Calder’s art in the galleries, according to a statement.
Prior to her role at the Whitney, Berrió was associate director of residencies and curator of public programs at Amant, an experimental organization in Brooklyn. She has also held curatorial, educational, and research role at the Walker Art Center, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum, the 2013 Venice Biennale, and the Untitled art fair in San Francisco.
Berrío was cofounder and director of Kiria Koula, a gallery, bookstore, and programming space in San Francisco. She has taught at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and at the Universidad de los Andes and Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá, Colombia.
Alexander “Sandy” Rower, Calder’s grandson and head of the eponymous foundation, said the new gardens mark “an entirely new type of cultural institution focused on nurturing introspection and personal growth through the art and ideas of my grandfather—one of the most influential artists of the modern era. Juana Berrío’s expertise and wide-ranging interdisciplinary experience—shaped by openness, compassion, and curiosity—make her ideal for this essential role.”
For her part, Berrió called the gardens “a unique space that integrates art, architecture, and nature to invite self-reflection.” She added that she’s looking forward to working with the team “to design rich cross-pollinations between artistic and nonartistic practices, with diverse communities, and between humans, flora, and fauna.”
