2022 Awards for Excellence Announced

2022 CURATORIAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE ANNOUNCED

Association of Art Museum Curators Honors Achievements in the Field

New York, NY, May 1, 2022 —The Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) announced their 2022 Awards for Excellence recipients during a celebration held in NYC.   The Awards for Excellence, highly esteemed by art curators everywhere, are the only accolades by which curators directly honor their colleagues.  

This year’s cycle paid tribute to the opening/closing/postponing of curatorial projects by awarding exhibitions and publications from 2020 and 2021, as well as 2021 groundbreaking digital curatorial achievements.  Over 150 nominations were submitted and vetted by curator jurors from around the world, with importance placed upon how each entry reflected AAMC’s core values of inclusion, access, dialogue, and engagement.

“Each year it is a privilege to celebrate the work of curators that have advanced new methodologies, scholarship, and inclusion and access within the arts,” said Judith Pineiro, Executive Director, AAMC & AAMC Foundation, “It is thrilling to recognize this year’s awardees in-person, and acknowledge the dynamic dialogues and broader engagement their work has sought to achieve.”

Ten projects were honored: 

• Difference Machines: Technology and Identity in Contemporary Art at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery for exhibition (organizational operating budget up to $10 million)

• Alien vs. Citizen at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago for exhibition (organizational operating budget of $10 – $30 million) 

• The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for exhibition (organizational operating budget above $30 million)

• Like Sugar at the The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College for publication (organizational operating budget up to $10 million)

• Mirror with a Memory: Photography, Surveillance, and Artificial Intelligence at the Carnegie Museum of Art for publication (organizational operating budget  of $10 – $30 million)

• Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America at The Museum of Modern Art for Publication (organizational operating budget  above $30 million) 

• Black Power in Print: The Black Panther Newspapers at MoMA at the Museum of Modern Art for non-catalog publication

• Malangatana: Mozambique Modern at the Art Institute of Chicago for digital publication

• Willi Smith: Street Couture Virtual Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum for digital exhibition

• The Black Index at the University of California, Irvine for online program

Awarded lead curators were Line Ajan, Sean Anderson, January Arnall, Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Bridget R. Cooks, Taylor Fisch, Hendrik Folkerts, Sarah Goodwin, Dan Leers, Felicia Mings, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Costa Petridis, Mario Pissarra, Tina Rivers Ryan, Rachel Seligman, Akili Tommasino, Paul Vanouse, Sarah Watson, and Mabel O. Wilson.

The announcement party was part of AAMC’s larger series of events and gatherings held during the Art Curators Conference.  The Conference, created and presented annually by Association of Art Museum Curators, is the largest annual gathering of curators and the singular Conference dedicated to an international dialogue amongst all nonprofit curators. 

We are grateful to the 2022 Art Curators sponsors and supporters that helped to make the full program possible, including our Awards for Excellence celebration: lead sponsor, Sotheby’s; friend sponsor, David Zwirner; friend sponsor, Bard Graduate Center; benefactor sponsor, UOVO; supporter, TEFAF; individual donors, Michi Jigarjian, Marie-Josée Kravis, Miyoung Lee, Ronay and Richard Menschel, Fred and Nancy Poses, Anthony and Sandra Tamer, and Cristin Tierney; and foundation supporter Samuel H. Kress Foundation. 

2022 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE LISTING

Digital Publication

Malangatana: Mozambique Modern

Art Institute of Chicago

Lead Curators:

Hendrik Folkerts, Curator of International Contemporary Art, Moderna Museet

Felicia Mings, Curator, Art Gallery of York University

Costa Petridis, Curator of African Art and Chair of the Department of Arts of Africa and the Americas, Art Institute of Chicago

Mario Pissarra, Founding Director, Africa South Art Initiative

Additional Lead Contributors at Art Institute of Chicago:

Allison Langley, Director of Paintings and Frames Conservation

Katrina Rush, Paintings Conservator

Julie Simek, Paintings Conservator

Digital Exhibition

Willi Smith: Street Couture Virtual Exhibition

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Lead Curator:

Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Curator of Contemporary Design and Hintz Secretarial Scholar, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Additional Project Leads:

Eric Nylund, Design Director, Linked by Air

Adam Quinn, Digital Product Manager, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Online Program

The Black Index

University of California, Irvine

Lead Curators:

Bridget R. Cooks, Professor and Curator, University of California, Irvine

Sarah Watson, Chief Curator, Hunter College Art Galleries, New York

Non-Catalog Publication

Black Power in Print: The Black Panther Newspapers at MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art

Lead Curator:

Akili Tommasino, Associate Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Additional Lead Contributor:

Jason Persse, Editorial Manager, The Museum of Modern Art

Exhibition (Organizational Operating Budget up to $10 Million)

Difference Machines: Technology and Identity in Contemporary Art

Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Lead Curators:

Tina Rivers Ryan, Assistant Curator, Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Paul Vanouse, Professor, University at Buffalo

Exhibition (Organizational Operating Budget of $10 – $30 Million) 

Alien vs. Citizen

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Lead Curators:

January Arnall, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Line Ajan, Formerly Barjeel Global Fellow, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Exhibition (Organizational Operating Budget above $30 Million)

The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Lead Curator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts:

Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

Additional Team Leads at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts:

Courtney Burkhardt, Director of Exhibition Planning and Publications

Kelly Burrow, Associate Registrar for Exhibitions

Shannon Petska, Senior Project Manager for Exhibitions                 

Ryan Schmidt, Senior Lighting and A/V Designer 

Eric Steinen, Senior Art Handler for Exhibitions and Special Projects          

Michael Taylor, Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Art and Education

Daniel Young, Director of Exhibition Design and Production

Publication (Organizational Operating Budget up to $10 Million)

Like Sugar

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College

Lead Curators:

Sarah Goodwin, Professor of English Emerita, Skidmore College

Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Malloy Curator, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College

Additional Lead Contributor: 

Barbara Glauber, Graphic Designer, Heavy Meta

Publication (Organizational Operating Budget of $10 – $30 Million)

Mirror with a Memory: Photography, Surveillance, and Artificial Intelligence

Carnegie Museum of Art

Lead Curators:

Taylor Fisch, Curator of Archives, kurimanzutto gallery, Mexico City 

Dan Leers, Curator of Photography, Carnegie Museum of Art

Publication (Organizational Operating Budget above $30 Million) 

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America

The Museum of Modern Art

Lead Curators:

Sean Anderson, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director, Cornell University Department of Architecture

Mabel O. Wilson, Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and Professor in African American and African Diaspora Studies, Columbia University

ABOUT AAMC & AAMC FOUNDATION 

Founded in 2001, the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) & AAMC Foundation celebrate the curatorial narrative by supporting and promoting the work of art curators at all stages in their career through opportunities for networking, collaboration, professional development, and career advancement.  With a network of over 1,500 members from over 500+ institutions around the globe, the organization is the leading organization and flagship voice for curators in the nonprofit sector. The organization ensures that the curatorial perspective on art, museums, and educational issues is furthered and advanced in critical issues within the art community.

CONTACT

Judith Pineiro, Executive Director, judith.pineiro@artcurators.org

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