{"id":1779,"date":"2010-06-17T22:18:21","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T05:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2010\/06\/seattle_art_museums_next_conte\/"},"modified":"2010-06-17T22:18:21","modified_gmt":"2010-06-18T05:18:21","slug":"seattle_art_museums_next_conte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2010\/06\/seattle_art_museums_next_conte.html","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Art Museum’s new contemporary curator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whoever the Seattle Art Museum<\/a> hires to replace Michael Darling (why Darling left here<\/a>), the museum needs somebody who likes a challenge. Money is tight, the work load (with three sites) is enormous, and payoffs on the national stage are elusive.<\/p>\n

For the hiring committee, 10 suggestions:<\/p>\n

1. Don’t limit yourselves to PhD’s. We all know PhD’s who get the job, sit down and rarely rise again.<\/p>\n

2. Good contemporary is not skin deep. How well does the candidate know the permanent galleries at the Met<\/a>? The Frick<\/a>? Ask who has the best American historical collection on the West Coast. (It’s the de Young<\/a>.) Make it\/break it question: Who is Robert Farris Thompson<\/a>? (Extra credit: What are his links to the SAM? Answers here<\/a> and here<\/a>.) In short, don’t pick a person who’s all about who’s hot and who’s not. <\/p>\n

3. No divas. The Northwest flattens their feathers. They’re not happy, and yes, we talk about their huge egos behind their backs. On the other hand, glam’s fine. High-heeled sneakers and wig hats welcome.<\/p>\n

4. Reach for the sky. When Max Anderson left the Whitney, who would have guessed he’d take a job at the Indianapolis Museum of Art<\/a>? At the time it looked like a demotion, but he’s a bigger deal now than he was then. Get the back story, and pick somebody with something to prove. <\/p>\n

5. Consider art dealers. Jeffrey
\nDeitch broke that ice.<\/a> If he can be director of MoCA<\/a>, why
\ncan’t an art dealer be curator at SAM? Ask Donald Young<\/a> if he’s available. What’s next for Scott Lawrimore<\/a>? Greg Kucera<\/a>?  Marian Goodman<\/a> would be an amazing coup, and so would Paula Cooper<\/a>. Maybe one of them is secretly sick of the commercial world. Thinking less commercially, on the commercial\/nonprofit divide, how about the team of Shelly Bancroft and Peter Nesbett<\/a>? How about Matthew Higgs<\/a>?<\/p>\n

6. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to peers. <\/p>\n

7. Don’t think you can’t get a big name. That person might have private reasons to make a move. But fame alone doesn’t mean he or she will have anything genuine to offer in the NW.<\/p>\n

8. Pick somebody who
\ncan find the global in the local. That person will get behind the
\nregion and push. He or she will inspire donors and attract diverse audiences.
\nWhen she doesn’t have money for a necessary exhibit, she’ll be
\nsomeone others write checks for.  <\/p>\n

9. Tough skin is a requirement. Nobody who collects grievances, please.<\/p>\n

10. Without vision the people perish. Find somebody who has one and can make it matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whoever the Seattle Art Museum hires to replace Michael Darling (why Darling left here), the museum needs somebody who likes a challenge. Money is tight, the work load (with three sites) is enormous, and payoffs on the national stage are elusive. For the hiring committee, 10 suggestions: 1. Don’t limit yourselves to PhD’s. We all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}