SUArt Galleries has announced that Anja Chavez has been hired to fill the new
position of curator of contemporary art. Chavez, who will begin work on Sept. 22, is
responsible for exhibitions and programs at The Warehouse Gallery in downtown
Syracuse, and will work with SUArt Galleries on the Syracuse University main
campus, to program international contemporary art exhibitions.
In 2007, The Warehouse Gallery merged with SUArt Galleries, opening opportunities
for both venues to share resources and expand their capabilities. With this merger
came the need for a curator who could work seamlessly with the extensive University
Art Collection, foster collaborations with regional artists, curate exhibitions, and run a
new contemporary art gallery. Chavez will help bring more contemporary
exhibitions to the SUArt Galleries on the main campus at SU and guide The
Warehouse Gallery, located in downtown Syracuse, in fulfilling its mission to present
exhibitions and programs by artists whose work engages the community in a
dialogue regarding the role the arts can play in illuminating critical issues of our life
and times.
"We are very pleased to have Anja Chavez as our new curator of contemporary art,"
says Jeffrey Hoone, executive director of the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers
(CMAC), which oversees SUArt Galleries. "She brings a wealth of international
experience and a proven track record of working with some of the most vital
contemporary artists working today. I am confident that Anja will help us continue
our efforts to make The Warehouse Gallery an important international venue for
contemporary art."
"I am looking forward to Ms. Chavez joining our staff," says Domenic Iacono,
director of SUArt Galleries. "Her expertise and experience will complement the skills
and talents of our knowledgeable and capable staff. She will also bring a fresh
perspective and new energy to our programming and exhibitions in contemporary
art."
"We are extremely fortunate to have Anja joining us," says Sam Van Aken, associate
professor in the Department of Art at SU and member of the search committee that
recommended Chavez for the position. "Her extraordinary curatorial experience is
certain to reinvigorate contemporary arts practices for our students, faculty and the
whole of the Syracuse community."
Chavez comes to Syracuse from the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley
College, in Wellesley, Mass., where she served as curator of contemporary art and
curator of exhibitions for the last five years. Some of her notable curatorial projects at
the Davis Museum include Xu Bing's "Any Opinion?" a site-specific installation for
the museum's lobby that received first prize for the best installation or single work of
art in a museum from the New England chapter of the International Art Critics
Association (AICA) in 2006-07. She was coordinating curator of the exhibition "On
the Edge: Chinese Contemporary Artists Encounter the West" that also received first
prize from the AICA in 2006-07 for Best Thematic Museum Show.
Her other important projects include curating the first U.S. exhibition by Russian
artist Valery Koshlyakov, who represented Russia at the 2003 Venice Biennial, and
curating site-specific installations by Aaron Noble, Ghada Amer, Lawrence Weiner
and Steve McQueen, who was just selected to represent Britain at the 2009 Venice
Biennale.
In addition to her position at the Davis Museum, she has held curatorial positions at
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; the Fitchburg Art Museum and Stadtische
Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich, Germany; and the Musee National d'Art
Moderne in Paris.
Chavez studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure and the Universite de Paris,
Sorbonne IV in Paris. She holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in art history from the
University of Bonn in Germany.
For further information, contact Elaine Quick at The Warehouse Gallery, 443-6450 or equick@syr.edu.
