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Naomi Beckwith

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Curator

Naomi Beckwith
Occupation(s)Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Naomi Beckwith (born 1976) is the deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She joined the museum in June 2021. Previously she had been the senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Beckwith joined the curatorial staff there in May 2011.

Early life and education

A native Chicagoan, Beckwith grew up in Hyde Park and attended Lincoln Park High School, going on to receive a BA in history from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She completed an MA with Distinction from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, presenting her master's thesis on Adrian Piper and Carrie Mae Weems.

Afterward, Beckwith was a Helena Rubenstein Critical Studies Fellow at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York. Beckwith was a fall 2008 grantee of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and was named the 2011 Leader to Watch by ArtTable. She serves on the boards of the Laundromat Project (New York) and Res Artis (Amsterdam).

Career

Prior to joining the MCA staff, Beckwith was associate curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem. Preceding her tenure at the Studio Museum, Beckwith was the Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, where she worked on numerous exhibitions including Locally Localized Gravity (2007), an exhibition and program of events presented by more than 100 artists whose practices are social, participatory, and communal.

Beckwith has also been the BAMart project coordinator at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and a guest blogger for Art:21. She has curated and co-curated exhibitions at New York alternative spaces Recess Activities, Cuchifritos, and Artists Space. In 2018, she served as curatorial adviser for the biennial SITElines art exhibition in Santa Fe. She has been awarded the 2017 VIA (Visionary Initiatives in Art) Art Fund Curatorial Fellowship and 2017 Center for Curatorial Leadership Fellowship.

Beckwith was a member of the international jury that selected Armenia as recipient of the Golden Lion for best national participation at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015. She later co-chaired (with Fred Wilson) the jury that chose the winners of the Rome Prize for the 2023–24 cycle.

In December 2024, she was chosen as Artistic Director of documenta 16, held in Kassel in summer 2027.

Key exhibitions

Beckwith curated the exhibition 30 Seconds off an Inch, which was presented by the Studio Museum in Harlem November 12, 2009 – March 14, 2010. Exhibiting artworks by 42 artists of color or those inspired by black culture from more than 10 countries, the show asked viewers to think about ways in which social meaning is embedded formally within artworks.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Any Number of Preoccupations was on view at the Studio Museum November 11, 2010 – March 13, 2011. The exhibition marked British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s first solo museum show with 24 canvases on display.

She also co-curated the first major survey of the art of Howardena Pindell at the MCA February 24, 2018 – May 20, 2018.

References

  1. Greenberger, Alex (14 January 2021). "Naomi Beckwith Named Deputy Director and Chief Curator at Guggenheim Museum". ArtNews. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  2. "MCA - Media". press.mcachicago.org. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  3. Lauren Viera, “MCA appoints Naomi Beckwith its newest curator,” Chicago Tribune, April 12, 2011, accessed June 16, 2011, .
  4. “Curator: Naomi Beckwith,” Curate NYC, accessed June 16, 2011, http://www.curatenyc.org/naomi-beckwith.html Archived 2010-11-08 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. “Awarded Grants,” The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, accessed June 15, 2011, http://www.warholfoundation.org/grant/index.html#/2008/NY.
  6. “Board of Directors,” The Laundromat Project, accessed June 16, 2011, http://www.laundromatproject.org/board-of-directors.htm.
  7. “New Res Artis Board Members,” Res Artis, November 11, 2010, accessed June 15, 2011, http://www.ressupport.org/index.php?id=42&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=733&cHash=ef06bc7469.
  8. “Locally Localized Gravity,” Institute of Contemporary Art, accessed June 16, 2011, http://www.icaphila.org/exhibitions/locally.php.
  9. “Naomi Beckwith Named Curator at MCA Chicago.”
  10. Durón, Maximilíano (3 August 2018). "A Tour of SITElines 2018 in 24 Photos". ARTnews. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  11. Kinsella, Eileen (7 April 2017). "Will VIA Art Fund's Philanthropic Model Fill An NEA Void?". artnet News. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  12. "VIA Art Fund Curatorial Fellowship". VIA Art Fund. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  13. "Center for Curatorial Leadership Announces 2017 Fellows". Center for Curatorial Leadership. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  14. Andrew Russeth (23 April 2015), Venice Biennale Awards Golden Lions to El Anatsui, Susanne Ghez, Names Jury ARTnews.
  15. Maximilíano Durón (24 April 2023), Artists Win Coveted Rome Prize, Including Dread Scott and Nao Bustamante ARTnews.
  16. Source FAZ
  17. "The Studio Museum in Harlem". The Studio Museum in Harlem. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  18. Smith, Roberta (11 December 2009). "A Beating Heart of Social Import". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  19. “30 Seconds off an Inch,” Press Release, October 20, 2009, Studio Museum Harlem, accessed June 16, 2011, http://www.studiomuseum.org/sites/default/files/30-seconds-of-an-inch_release.pdf.
  20. "The Studio Museum in Harlem". The Studio Museum in Harlem. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  21. Pogrebin, Robin (8 August 2018). "With New Urgency, Museums Cultivate Curators of Color". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  22. Johnson, Steve (8 August 2018). "Naomi Beckwith named new senior curator at MCA". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  23. Waxman, Lori (25 April 2018). "The diverse, dizzying majesty of Howardena Pindell". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 9 March 2019.

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