10 Highly Influential Curators Today You Need To Know

Introduction: What Defines A Good Curator?

As we have discussed extensively in our article What is Curating in Art, the act of curating—etymologically derived from the Latin word cura or curar, which means ‘care’ or ‘to take care’—is an endeavor of researching, selecting, managing, acquiring, organizing, inventorying, and presenting art, most often in the form of exhibitions.

As a result, the curator is appointed as the main person to organize and direct the exhibition—making the curator arguably as important as the artists. Curating is not only about being knowledgeable, critical, and respected; it is also about personality.

This importance of the curator has resulted in what one could almost describe as a star cult, with numerous in-demand curators receiving the highest praise for their work. Besides ‘taking care’ or ‘curar‘ of everything, the top curators have a powerful vision, and the entire art industry respects their opinion.

A curator aims to provide additional value when curating the show in which the curated entity is greater than the sum of the selected artworks. They intrigue us with socio-political or art-historical statements and perspectives. Their interpretation of art, history, and today’s society and world educates and inspires the exhibition visitor.

We have shortlisted ten highly influential curators using the analytical research tool of Artfacts, ranking the most popular and in-demand curators today based on objective art facts.

10. Sunjung Kim

We start with the Seoul-based curator Sunjung Kim. She is a professor at the Korea National University of Arts and was shortlisted in 2013 by ArtReview’s annual Power 100.

The South-Korean curator founded Samuso and is currently the Associate Director of Artsonje Center and artistic director of Asia Culture Information Agency in the Asian Culture Complex in Gwangju. Notable curatorial contributions include curating the Korean Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale, directing the 6th Seoul International Media Art Biennale, and co-curating the 2012 Gwangju Biennale.[1]

9. Simon Njami

Simon Njami—who studied literature, law, and philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris—is an independent curator, professor, art critic, and writer. Njami founded and directed Revue Nori, a periodical on contemporary African art.

Notable curatorial contributions include co-curating the first African Pavilion during the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, directing the first African Art Fair in Johannesburg in 2008, and has worked as a curator for numerous renowned institutions and galleries encompassing the Museum fur Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany; the Smithsonian in Washington DC, the United States of America; Galleria Nazionale in Rome, Italy; and more.[2]

8. Lynne Cooke

Next, we have the Australian-born art scholar Lynne Cooke. Cooke is a senior curator for Special Projects in Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the United States of America. In 2006, she received the Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.

She is the former curator of the renowned Dia Art Foundation in New York and was appointed as the Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Museo Nacional Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain. Further notable curatorial contributions consist of co-curating Carnegie International in 1991 and the artistic direction of the Biennale of Sydney in 1996.[3]

7. Werner Spies

Klaus Albrecht Schröder—the director of the Albertina in Vienna, Austria—called Werner Spies one of the most influential art historians of the 20th century, a statement one can hardly contest. The German art historian was also a renowned journalist and curator. He studied art history, French literature, and philosophy.

The professor of art history at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf has curated some of the most important retrospectives of the past few decades; think of the Picasso retrospectives at the K20 in Düsseldorf, the Albertina in Vienna, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and his essential work and expertise on Max Ernst, curating another major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.[4]

6. Helen Molesworth

The American curator of contemporary art Helen Anne Molesworth, based in Los Angeles, has been a prolific figure in the United States. She was the Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles.

Molesworth curated numerous significant retrospectives, including Kerry James Marshall at the Museum of Contemporary art in Chicago, Catherine Opie at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and the Luc Tuymans retrospective, which traveled from the Weiner Center for the Arts to the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.[5]

5. Paul Schimmel

Next, we have another American, LA-based curator who has been the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Chief Curator in Los Angeles Paul Schimmel. Schimmel has also been the Vice President and partner of the renowned mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth.

The highly-rated curator has also served as the Curator and Senior Curator of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, resulting in various curatorial awards, including six awards from the International Association of Art Critics and two from the Association of Art Museum Curators.[6]

4. RoseLee Goldberg

South-African-born and American-based art historian and critic RoseLee Goldberg is a world-renowned curator. She is the former director of the Royal College of Art Gallery in London and curator at The Kitchen in New York, curating and organizing performances at renowned institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Guggenheim, and Garage in Moscow.

Her contributions when it comes to Performance Art are groundbreaking. She was the Founding Director and Chief Curator of Performa—a public platform for contemporary art and performance by artists shaping the public and academic perception of Performance Art, supported by her reference publications Performance Art: from Futurism to the Present and Performance Now: Live Art for the 21st Century.

3. Thelma Golden

Thelma Golden is the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, the United States of America. Born in Queens, Golden has been championing artists of African descent at renowned institutions. She launched her influential curatorial practice in the late 1980s at the Whitney Museum of American Art, organizing thought-provoking and groundbreaking exhibitions challenging the establishment.

Golden received various honorary doctorates and medals throughout her illustrious career. She was also appointed to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House by Barack Obama. Further, she also works on the Board of Directors for the Barack Obama Foundation and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.[8]

2. Klaus Biesenbach

The German art historian, cultural manager, and curator Klaus Biesenbach is one of the most influential figures in the art world. He is currently the founder and Director of the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts in Berlin.

Previously, Biesenbach was appointed Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. He directed the very first Berlin Biennale and has been the Chief Curator for New Media at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the director of the MoMA PS1 in New York, the United States of America.[9]

1. Hans Ulrich Obrist

Arguably not surprisingly, we encounter Hans Ulrich Obrist at the top of our list. The Swiss art historian, critic, and curator is the artistic director of the renowned Serpentine Galleries in London. He published the two most essential reference publications concerning curating, A Brief History of Curating and Ways of Curating, explaining what it means to be a curator.

Notable curatorial contributions include curating Utopia Station during the 2003 Venice Biennale, co-curating Manifesta 1 in 1996, and directing the extensive ongoing project of interviews titled The Interview Project. In 2009, Obrist was ranked number one in ArtReview’s annual 100 Power as the most powerful person in the art world.[10]

Notes:

[1] ICI, Sunjung Kim at https://curatorsintl.org/about/collaborators/5273-sunjung-kim consulted January 10, 2023.
[2] SMAK, Wie is Simon Njami? at https://smak.be/nl/agenda/curatorial-lectures-simon-njami consulted January 10, 2023.
[3] Whitechapel Gallery, Lynne Cooke: Big Ideas at https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/big-ideas-lynne-cooke/ consulted January 10, 2023.
[4] Wikipedia, Werner Spies at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Spies consulted January 10, 2023.
[5] Wikipedia, Helen Molesworth at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Molesworth consulted January 10, 2023.
[6] CCS Bard, Paul Schimmel at https://ccs.bard.edu/people/2320-paul-schimmel consulted January 10, 2023.
[7] ICI, RoseLee Goldberg at https://curatorsintl.org/about/collaborators/4327-roselee-goldberg consulted January 10, 2023.
[8] The Studio Museum in Harlem, Thelma Golden at https://studiomuseum.org/thelma-golden-director-and-chief-curator consulted January 10, 2023.
[9] Kunstaspekte, Klaus Biesenbach at https://kunstaspekte.art/person/klaus-biesenbach consulted January 10, 2023.
[10] Wikipedia, Hans Ulrich Obrist at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Ulrich_Obrist consulted January 10, 2023.

Last Updated on September 15, 2023