New York’s Museum of Modern Art has named Stuart Comer chief curator in the department of media and performance art. Comer has served as curator of film at Tate Modern, London, since 2004, and takes up his new post at MoMA Sept. 23. He will also be busy as a co-curator of the 2014 Whitney Biennial, and will work with both institutions concurrently until March 2014. Comer replaces Sabine Breitwieser, who left earlier this year to become director of the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg.
“Stuart will bring a keen interest in and knowledge of contemporary practice that spans the hybrid nature of media and performance,” said MoMA director Glenn Lowry in a press release.
“Artists working across time-based media-from performance to the moving image and all of the many permutations in between-continue to push and reshape artistic practice in fundamentally challenging and exciting ways,” said Comer. “I look forward to exploring this dynamic field and its rich history by continuing the development and exhibition of MoMA’s distinguished collection.”
The department’s holdings include more than 1,700 works, spanning moving image installations, single-channel videos, performance and documentary evidence, motion- and sound-based artworks and other examples.
Comer organized many live film and video projects in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, including examples by Tony Conrad, Nan Goldin, Derek Jarman, Shuji Terayama, Throbbing Gristle and Jennifer West. He was also co-curator of the 2012 opening festival of live and time-based work for the Tanks, Tate Modern’s new exhibition spaces in former oil tanks.
From 2002 until 2004, Comer was curator of public programs at Tate Modern, and previously held positions at the Institute of Visual Culture in Cambridge and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. In 2007, he was co-curator of the Lyon Biennial.
