BROOKLYN, NY.- The Brooklyn Museum is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Y. Chi as Deputy Director and Chief Curator. Chi joins the Museum after 10 years as the Exhibitions Director and Chief Curator at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), New York University, where she founded and created the curatorial vision for its critically acclaimed exhibitions programs, widely known for their eloquent and sometimes unusual installations, their high academic standards, and their broad public accessibility. In addition to bringing never-before-seen ancient material to American audiences, some of her exhibitions bridged antiquity and the contemporary world, illustrating the diverse connections between the art and culture of the past and modern and present-day artists. From Ancient to Modern: Archaeology and Aesthetics, for example, featured Sumerian sculptures as well as works by Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti, and contemporary artist Michael Rakowitz, and her upcoming Restoring the Minoans: Elizabeth Price and Sir Arthur Evans will juxtapose the Turner Prize winning Price's A Restoration with original objects and material from the archive of the celebrated Minoan site of Knossos.
In her capacity as Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Chi will help shape the overall strategic direction of the Museum, overseeing its curatorial program and activities, including exhibitions, public programs, and more broadly the display of its collections.
Anne Pasternak, the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum, stated, "I am excited to partner with Jennifer. She is not only a renowned scholar and curator, but also a creative thinker, whose drive and entrepreneurial skills will be a great boon to our efforts in expanding our curatorial activities." Board Chair Barbara M. Vogelstein added, "We are thrilled to have Jennifer join us as our Chief Curator and Deputy Director. She has built an impressive career and comes to the Brooklyn Museum with a deep appreciation for the mission of this great institution."
Dr. Chi adds "I am thrilled by the opportunity to work with the Brooklyn Museum's incredible staff and, under the visionary leadership of Anne Pasternak, to expand the scope of the Museum's exhibitions program and open up the wonders of its permanent collection. The Brooklyn Museum is one of the city's great treasures, and it is an honor to be joining Anne and her team in helping to shape the Museum's overall vision of itself as an encyclopedic museum for the twenty-first century."
The Brooklyn Museum's Deputy Director and Chief Curator holds one of the most important curatorial jobs in the museum field in the United States. With its institutional roots extending back to 1823, the Museum's encyclopedic collection represents more than 5,500 years of human creativity from around the globe. Renowned collections include objects and art from ancient Egypt; the Americas, ranging from pre-Columbian material culture, to Spanish colonial painting and First Nations art and objects; to 19th- and early 20th-century American painting, sculpture, and decorative arts; and the Middle Eastern and Asian collections, which will re-open to the public in phases, beginning in fall 2017. The Museum is also home to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art-the only curatorial center of its kind in a museum.
Chi's appointment is part of Director Anne Pasternak's goal to grow the Museum's curatorial program and part of a larger effort to revisit and refresh the Museum's magnificent collection. In spring 2016, the collection galleries devoted to American, European, and Egyptian art reopened with new thematic structures that embraced a more inclusive view of history and geography. Other initiatives led by Pasternak include presenting cross-collection exhibitions, increasing the number of special exhibitions and public programs, and making more dynamic use of the ground-floor public spaces of the Museum.
Chi holds a Master of Studies with distinction in Classical Archaeology from the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, with a specialization in Greek and Roman sculpture.
