Scottsdale Museum Of Contemporary Art Announced New Curatorial Team

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Hanh Ho as the new curator of contemporary art. She joined the Museum full time on January 7, 2019.

Ho relocated to Scottsdale from Dallas, TX, where she has successfully run her own international contemporary art gallery, CYDONIA, for six years. She has a prestigious curatorial degree from Goldsmiths College in London, in addition to a MBA from University of Dallas. Her area of expertise is post-conceptual art history and emerging practices as well as collections management.

In the fall of 2018, Jennifer McCabe was promoted to the role of director and chief curator of SMoCA. After serving as curator of contemporary art for one and a half years, and acting director for six months, she now oversees the Museum operations and maintains curatorial oversight for the Museum programs. In 2019, she will be completing the second year of a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts that has supported original exhibitions and new commissions. She believes museums bring communities together under the shared philosophy that art has the power to engage our imaginations, challenge our perceptions and inspire change.

"The team at SMoCA looks forward to working with Hanh and her entrepreneurial spirit along with her research-based curatorial projects will be an exciting fit for the greater Phoenix area and growing arts community," said McCabe.

While Ho is the curator of contemporary art at SMoCA, she is also focused on developing a new program, SMoCA LAB that will feature exhibitions of emerging artists. Additionally, she has a deep interest in building the institutional collection.

"For me, art is the paradigm of freedom and volition. Given her exhibition history of exhibiting diverse voices, there's kinship between Jennifer's understanding of art and my own. That is integral to having a united curatorial vision of what SMoCA is and will be moving forward. It is the responsibility of every generation to define what art is, and I am honored to advance this mission. Regardless of the aesthetic and message, all art is political. Museums are tasked with decisions about who gets to be a participant in those dialogues that influence culture and they bestow value on the content of those messages that are communicated," said Ho.

Through its partnership with the City of Scottsdale, the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts (formerly known as Scottsdale Cultural Council) creates diverse, inspired arts experiences and educational opportunities that foster active, lifelong community engagement with the arts. Since its founding in 1987, Scottsdale Arts has grown into a regionally and nationally significant, multi-disciplinary arts organization offering an exceptional variety of programs through four acclaimed branches - Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), Scottsdale Public Art and Scottsdale Arts Education & Outreach - serving more than 400,000 participants annually.

SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Founded in 1999, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) explores the best of contemporary art, architecture and design. Global in its focus, the Museum is a unique and vital cultural resource for the Southwest, serving local audiences as well as visitors from the United States and abroad. Designed by award-winning architect Will Bruder, SMoCA's minimalist building (an ingenious renovation of a former movie theater) has four galleries for showcasing changing exhibitions and works from the Museum's collection, along with SMoCA Lounge, a living, functional art installation and space for community engagement. The Museum presents a wide variety of educational programs and special events for adults and families, including lectures, readings, performances, docent-led tours, workshops and classes. SMoCA also features an outdoor sculpture garden housing James Turrell's "Knight Rise," one of the renowned artist's public skyspaces, and "Scrim Wall," a monumental curtain of translucent glass panels by James Carpenter Design Associates. The Museum's retail store, Shop@SMoCA, offers classic design objects and furnishings, contemporary jewelry, art and architecture books, and imaginative gifts for all occasions.