Dallas Museum of Art Appoints Contemporary Art Curator
The Dallas Museum of Art has appointed Vivian Li as the Lupe Murchison Curator of Contemporary Art starting Oct. 7.
Li has a Ph.D. in art history and specializes in modern and contemporary art in China, with a focus on sculpture from the early 20th century through the postwar period. She brings with her expertise in both contemporary art and Asian Art. Li has most recently served as associate curator of Asian art and global contemporary art at the Worcester Art Museum.
“I look forward to working with the extraordinary encyclopedic collection at the DMA as well as the dynamic communities and art and cultural partners in Dallas,” said Li. “The collection’s unique international scope in postwar and contemporary art will allow us to tell an inclusive and provocative story of art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”
She will be working closely with Anna Katherin Brodbeck, the museum’s Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art.
Together they will shape the exhibition and public program schedule to show the museum’s broad-reaching, internationally focused approach; highlight the strength of the collection, and enable ambitious collaborations with contemporary artists from around the world.
“As we continue to build on the incredible and broad-ranging expertise of the DMA’s curatorial team to reflect the museum’s encyclopedic collection and programs, we are thrilled to welcome Vivian to the DMA,” said Agustín Arteaga, the DMA’s Eugene McDermott director. “Just as we recently created new curatorial roles in Islamic and Latin American art to support and further strengthen these areas of our collection, we are pleased to strengthen our curatorial expertise in contemporary art with Vivian’s appointment. With her engagement in both contemporary and Asian art across periods, she is poised to enhance and bring a new dimension to the study and presentation of the DMA’s contemporary art collection, which has particularly outstanding holdings of postwar Japanese art.”
Added Brodbeck, “We are thrilled to have found Vivian, an accomplished scholar and curator of East Asian art who is perfectly primed to expand upon our singular collection of Gutai art and connect it to art from the region and from around the globe. I was especially impressed by Vivian’s establishment of a residency that brought Southeast Asian artists to Worcester, which has a large population with roots in the region. That spirit of connection and engagement is at the heart of our mission at the DMA.”
