Curatorial Forum 2023

The Curatorial Forum offers a group of mid-career and established curators, working independently or with an institutional affiliation, the opportunity to engage with their peers and explore urgent issues related to curating, programming, institution-building and audience engagement. Presented in partnership with Independent Curators International (ICI), this invitation-only program features closed-door sessions focusing on questions critical to contemporary curatorial practice and facilitated by leaders with international recognition in the field.

Highlights include a keynote presentation by  Victoria Noorthroon, Director of Museo Moderno, Buenos Aires and peer-led sessions focused on critical questions relevant to contemporary practice and context held at 21c Museum Hotel Chicago. The 2023 Curatorial Forum is made possible, in part, by the generous support of presenting sponsors 21c Museum Hotel Chicago and the Joyce Foundation; with additional support by UAP | Urban Art Projects; Terry Dowd, Inc, and Gallagher. 

The 2023 edition will see the addition of the Chicago Assembly, a cohort of Chicago-based curators who will convene both prior to and following EXPO CHICAGO in April, to further explore the ideas exchanged throughout the program as well as to identify themes and strategies generated at the Forum that hold special significance for the Chicago community.

Participants in the 2023 Chicago Assembly include: Sheridan Tucker Anderson (Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago), Antawan I. Byrd (Northwestern University), Yi Cao (Art Institute of Chicago), Jadine Collingwood (MCA Chicago), Nolan Jimbo (MCA Chicago), Adia Sykes (Indepenent Curator), Asha Iman Veal (Museum of Contemporary Photography), and Leslie Wilson (Art Institute of Chicago). 

In 2023, EXPO CHICAGO and ICI will present the inaugural Barbara Nessim Acquisition Prize and the Barbara Nessim Curatorial Travel Award, both of which are fully funded by Barbara Nessim, an artist known for her legacy of supporting women in the arts. The acquisition prize will be dedicated to the purchase of an artwork created by a woman artist valued up to $10,000 on view at EXPO CHICAGO that will be donated to the DePaul Art Museum. The prize will be awarded annually through at least 2025, and for 2023 will be selected by a committee composed of Barbara Nessim, Mary Dinaburg, and DePaul Art Museum Director, Laura-Caroline de Lara. The curatorial award is an annual travel grant of $3,000 which will be awarded each year to support the curatorial practice of one woman curator attending the Curatorial Forum. The selection will be made by a committee composed of ICI Director Renaud Proch, Barbara Nessim, and Mary Dinaburg. 

INDEPENDENT CURATORS INTERNATIONAL

Independent Curators International (ICI) supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration and international engagement. Curators are arts community leaders and organizers who champion artistic practice; build essential infrastructures and institutions; and generate public engagement with art. Our collaborative programs connect curators across generations, and across social, political and cultural borders. They form an international framework for sharing knowledge and resources — promoting cultural exchange, access to art and public awareness for the curator’s role.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Victoria Noorthoorn 

Director | Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires

Victoria Noorthoorn is the Director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (Museo  Moderno) since 2013.  Under her leadership, this public museum, funded by  the City Government of Buenos Aires, has undergone a deep process of growth and transformation. With an expanded budget, a team of 130 museum professionals, and exhibition spaces that have doubled in size, the museum has  presented  over 100 exhibitions, publishing over 50 bilingual publications, and created multiple  education programs to involve 7000 teachers a year, while becoming a leading institution in the areas of mental health and accessibility.  

Previously, Noorthoorn worked for MoMA’s International Program and The Drawing Center in New York (1998-2001), and Malba in Buenos Aires (2002-2004), and later, as an independent curator (2004-2012) she curated the Biennales in Pontevedra (2006), Mercosul (2009) and Lyon (2011), as well as the 41 Salón Nacional de Artistas in Cali (2008), among  several other international exhibitions. At the Museo Moderno, she has curated exhibitions of León  Ferrari, Marta Minujín, Marina De Caro, Ana Gallardo, Tracey Rose, Zanele Muholi, Bernardo Ortiz,  Delcy Morelos, and Sergio De Loof, among many others, and group exhibitions such as A Tale of Two  Worlds (2017-2018), presented at Museo Moderno and MMK in Frankfurt.  

Since 2019, Noorthoorn is an active Board member of CIMAM  (International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art), where she serves in the  Contents, Museum Watch, and Travel Grants Committees. On November 9-11, 2023, Museo 
Moderno will host the 55th CIMAM Annual Conference to focus on the social  dimension of museums of modern and contemporary art. 

2023 Participants to Date

Taylor Renee Aldridge | Visual Arts Curator and Programs Manager, California African American Museum 
Sheridan Tucker Anderson | Associate Director of Exhibitions + Residencies, Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago
Lauren Tate Baeza | Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art, High Museum 
Tizziana Baldenebro | Executive Director, SPACES 
Selam Bekele | Curator, MoAD San Francisco 
Alejo Benedetti | Acting Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Sarah Biscarra Dilley | Curator of Indigenous Programs & Community Engagement, Forge Project
Tyler Blackwell | Curator of Contemporary Art, Speed Art Museum 
Kate Bowen | Executive Director, ACRE, Chicago Art Census
Laura Burkhalter | Senior Curator, Des Moines Art Center 
Antawan I. Byrd | Weinberg Fellow, Northwestern University
Yi Cao | Director of Curatorial Administration for Arts of Asia, Art Institute of Chicago 
Isabel Casso | Assistant Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego 
Jadine Collingwood | Assistant Curator, MCA Chicago 
Alison Coplan | Senior Curator and Head of Programs, Swiss Institute
Emily Edwards | Assistant Curator, Dallas Contemporary
Georgia Erger | Associate Curator, Frye Art Museum 
Taraneh Fazeli | Independent Curator 
Melissa Feldman | Independent Curator 
Pujan Gandhi | Jane Emison Assistant Curator of South & Southeast Asian Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art 
Andrea Hanley | Chief Curator, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
Andria Hickey | Chief Curator, the Shed
Brian Holcombe | Curator, Moss Arts Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 
Jamillah James | Manilow Senior Curator, MCA Chicago 
Ashley Janke | Assistant Curator, Wrightwood 659 
Alexander Jarman | Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Academic Outreach, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art
Eileen Jeng Lynch | Director of Curatorial Programs, The Bronx Museum
Nolan Jimbo | Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow, MCA Chicago
Jared Ledesma | Curator of 20th-Century and Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of Art 
Lauren Leving | Curator, MoCA Cleveland
Juli Lowe | Museum Manager, 21c Museum Hotel Chicago
Leilani Lynch | Associate Curator, MCA Denver
Jacqueline Saragoza McGilvray | Curator and Exhibitions Manager, Contemporary at Blue Star
Srimoyee Mitra | Director, Stamps Gallery, University of Michigan
Victoria Noorthoorn | Director, Museo Moderno, Buenos Aires 
Katie Pfohl | Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Detroit Institute of Arts
Julie Poitras Santos | Director of Exhibitions, ICA Maine College of Art 
Abigail Satinsky | Program Officer & Curator, Arts and Culture, Wagner Foundation
Stephanie Seidel | Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami 
Adia Sykes | Independent Curator
Sally Tallant | President and Executive Director, Queens Museum 
Asha Iman Veal | Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Photography 
April Watson | Photography Curator, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Manuela Well-Off-Man | Chief Curator, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
Juana Williams | Associate Curator of African American Art, Detroit Institute of Arts
Jasmine Wilson | Independent Curator
Leslie Wilson | Associate Director, Academic Engagement and Research, Art Institute of Chicago