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SculptureCenter has announced the appointment of Christian Rattemeyer to the position of Director effective November 1, 2019. Rattemeyer joins the museum after 12 years at The Museum of Modern Art, where he served as Associate Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints. He succeeds Mary Ceruti who is now Executive Director of the Walker Art Center.
As the new Director, Rattemeyer will oversee all exhibitions and programming, and continue to lead the institution that is respected for its independent vision, intellectual rigor, and dedication to commissioning new work by emerging and established artists. SculptureCenter has always been an artist-centric institution, founded by artists in 1928, and Rattemeyer's life-long engagement with artists working in contemporary art, particularly his great eye for undiscovered and underrepresented voices, stood out to the museum throughout the search process. Rattemeyer's institutional knowledge from MoMA and curatorial background, including his mentorship of numerous artists and curators around the world, will offer a revitalizing perspective for SculptureCenter and its reputation as a leading international contemporary art museum.
SculptureCenter Board Chair Andreas Beroutsos said, "All of us at SculptureCenter are very pleased to have Christian Rattemeyer as our new Director and truly excited about what lies ahead under his leadership. Christian's deep and geographically broad roots in art history and contemporary art, his curatorial record of creative and insightful choices as well as insatiable interest into artistic innovation, the respect he commands among his peers, his institutional leadership qualities, and genuine focus on teamwork and people-and-artist development, made Christian the logical choice to lead SculptureCenter into the future."
"SculptureCenter was established by artists and continues to foster and promote living artists working all over the world," said Rattemeyer. "The museum leads the conversation in contemporary art and has been a cultural pioneer in Long Island City. Its outstanding program has served and inspired a unique community of artists and colleagues. As a curator who has worked globally and values international dialogue, I hope to work with the museum's dedicated team and board to strengthen our partnerships and engagement abroad, and deepen the opportunities we provide for our artists and our audiences."
"As an artist, I am extremely excited to welcome Christian Rattemeyer to SculptureCenter," said Carol Bove, President of the Board. "Christian has been a friend and supporter of SculptureCenter for nearly two decades, and we are so thrilled that he will be our new Director. He is a passionate idealist who also brings practical institution-building skills and strategic insight to reinforce our strength as a platform for radical thought and practice. From his experiences gathered around the world, his long tenure in New York, and his solid history championing distinct voices, he will be a unifying force allowing SculptureCenter's artistic energy to reverberate in a pivotal moment in our culture, as well as to foster our mission to protect a free space for creativity unencumbered by market forces."
Rattemeyer joins SculptureCenter from MoMA, where he was an Associate Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints. Rattemeyer has championed and supported contemporary artists from the very beginning of his career. During his time at MoMA, Rattemeyer was a curator for the exhibitions: Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection (2017); Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America 1960-1980 (2015); Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan (2012); Projects 95: Runa Islam (2011); and Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection (2009), among others. He is currently co-organizing the exhibition SURROUNDS: 11 Installations for MoMA's reopening.
Beginning his career as an artists' assistant at documenta IX in 1992 in his hometown of Kassel, Rattemeyer took on increasingly responsible roles in producing the subsequent documentas X and 11, which were seen by nearly two million visitors. In 1997, Rattemeyer founded and was gallery director of OSMOS, a contemporary project space in Berlin, Germany, and was also co-curator for the 3rd and 4th International Biennial for Film and Architecture Berlin, Germany. He moved to New York in 2003 where he served as Curator to Artists Space in New York for four years, curating 65 contemporary exhibitions. Rattemeyer has published widely on contemporary art and the history of exhibitions, including the book Exhibiting the New Art. Op Losse Schroeven and When Attitudes Become Form 1969 (London: Afterall Publishers 2010). He holds an MA in Art History from the Freie Universität Berlin and an MPhil in Art History from Columbia University.
