It seems just yesterday that the New Museum unveiled its first triennial, a survey exhibition titled “Younger Than Jesus” that was accused of being by turns “awfully sedate” and “low-budget bubbly fun,” and the museum itself described as “nothing more than a giant Xbox.” Helmed by a triumvirate of NewMu curators (as critic Jerry Saltz pointed out, “a Millennial, Gen-Xer, and Boomer, respectively”) the group show highlighted work from the wunderkind set, age 33 and younger. Now we’re hearing that the next triennial, not until 2012, will be curated by the museum’s own Eungie Joo, curator of public programs and education since 2007. That name rings a bell…
Ah, yes! She was director of REDCAT, the Disney arts theater in California. She co-founded Six Months: Crenshaw in LA. She’s written for a ton of exhibition catalogs including Barry McGee, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker. She got a doctorate at Berkeley. More recently, she served as commissioner for the Korean Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale. And how’s this for street cred? She’s even curated a show for Deitch Projects. (Don’t know if you heard, but Deitch has made a few museum waves of his own recently.)
So: we’ve got a West Coaster who relocated to the East Coast to work for New York’s most hotly-debated contemporary museum and is now plotting the next large-scale triennial that will serve as cocktail fodder for the art world. We’ve also got a blue chip Manhattan gallerist who set tongues a-wagging by closing shop and decamping to the West Coast to run another contemporary non-profit. We can only hope this reignites a certain coastal feud, minus the bloodshed and plus a shitload more industry gossip.
Chu Yun, “This is Lacy” (2006), a living sculpture installation a rotating cast of girls sleeping in a bed — first advertised for on Craigslist.
AIDS-3D “OMG Obelisk” (2007) from “Younger Than Jesus.” OMG!