LOS ANGELES, CA.- Ann Philbin, Director of the Hammer Museum, has announced that a new curatorial line-up will be in place as of January 1, 2007. Gary Garrels, who joined the Hammer Museum in May 2005 as Senior Curator, has been appointed to the post of Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs. In this new role, he will oversee the curatorial and education departments: developing and organizing Hammer exhibitions, selecting and coordinating traveling and guest-curated exhibitions, supervising educational and public programs, and developing the Hammer’s collection of contemporary art.

The first exhibition Garrels is organizing at the Hammer will be Eden’s Edge: Fifteen LA Artists, an exploration of art made in Los Angeles during the past decade, on view May 13 through September 2, 2007. Garrels is currently organizing the Hammer’s presentation of Vija Celmins: A Drawings Retrospective, an exhibition presenting works on paper by the renowned artist, which travels from the Centre Pompidou in Paris and will be on view at the Hammer Museum January 28 through April 22, 2007. Garrels is also the curator of the international traveling exhibition Brice Marden: A Retrospective of Paintings and Drawings, which is currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Garrels replaces Russell Ferguson, who has become the new Chair of UCLA’s Department of Art. Ferguson will retain an association with the Hammer Museum by becoming an Adjunct Curator beginning in January. He is currently organizing the exhibition Mathias Poledna: Crystal Palace, a video installation examining ethnographic films shot on location in Papua New Guinea, which is on view from January 28 to April 22, 2007, as well as Francis Alÿs: The Politics of Rehearsal, which will be on view in September 30, 2007 through January 20, 2008.

Ali Subotnick has also joined the Hammer curatorial team as Adjunct Curator. Her first exhibition organized for the Museum will be Hammer Projects: Erik van Lieshout, a new video work which is on view from January 16 through April 29, 2007.

“This is a seamless transition for the Hammer and one which will strengthen both our curatorial structure and our valued connection to the UCLA Department of Art,” said Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin. “It will give a greater scope to Gary Garrels, whose immense talents have already become so valuable to the Hammer, while maintaining our cherished connection with Russell Ferguson, who will continue to organize exhibitions at the Hammer in his capacity as Adjunct Curator. With Ali Subotnick the Hammer adds to our curatorial team one of the most gifted and innovative young curators in the international field of contemporary art.”

Gary Garrels has worked with international artists who work in all media and has championed many Los Angeles-based artists. Prior to joining the Hammer, he was the Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York ( 2000–05 ). Before that, he served as Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art ( 1993–2000 ), Senior Curator at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis ( 1991–93 ), and Director of Programs at the Dia Art Foundation, New York ( 1987–1991 ). He received his M.A. in Art History from Boston University and studied in Princeton University’s Doctoral Program for Sociology. His most recent exhibition is a major retrospective of Brice Marden’s paintings and drawings, which opened in October at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and will tour internationally. Among his current projects for the Hammer Museum is a multi-year artist-in-residence project with Doris Salcedo, titled On the Borders of Life.

Curator, critic, and publisher Ali Subotnick recently served as co-curator of the 4th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art ( 2004–06 ), an international exhibition held in 12 venues along one street. With her collaborators for the Biennial, artist Maurizio Cattelan and curator Massimilano Gioni, she is also the founder and manager of the Wrong Gallery, a miniature, non-profit exhibition space, and co-editor of its serial newspaper, The Wrong Times. She is also co-editor and co-founder of the systematically inconsistent art publication series Charley ( 2000–present ). She has written about art and culture for Frieze, Parkett, ARTnews and Art Review; has edited publications with On Kawara, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Francesco Vezzoli, and the Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens; and has served as a visiting critic at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and received her M.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.