Curator Julieta González Joins One of Brazil’s Biggest Museums Following Surprise Departure from Museo Jumex

Two years after she left the Museo Jumex in Mexico City, Julieta González, a star curator who has held positions at some of Central America’s top institutions, has been appointed the artistic director of Brazil’s Inhotim museum. The announcement of her new post came as part of a larger restructuring of the leadership at Inhotim, a 5,000-acre outdoor art space that was founded by collector Bernardo Paz in 2004.

González departed the Museo Jumex in 2019, though she continued to work with the museum as an independent collaborator afterward. She left during a period of particularly high turnover that also saw four other women, including the museum’s adjunct director, depart. Critics in Mexico City eyed these departures with suspicion, viewing them as a sign that the Museo Jumex’s goal of becoming one of Mexico’s most important contemporary art museums was perhaps not attainable.

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In a statement, González said that her vision for Inhotim “includes broadening the perspective of the artistic program, mindful of the discursive changes in the contemporary world.”

Prior to the Museo Jumex, González had been senior curator at Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo. She had also held posts at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York and at Tate Modern in London. She begins at Inhotim in January.

At Inhotim, González will serve alongside Lucas Pessôa and Paula Azevedo, who will be the museum’s head and its vice president and deputy director, respectively. Inhotim said that the leadership changes were driven by a “desire to institutionalize management and project its future towards an even more solid and sustainable model.” Antonio Grassi, the museum’s current director, will remain at Inhotim until the end of the year, though he will also collaborate with the museum starting in 2022, when he is based in Lisbon.

Pessôa is currently director of Oficina Brennand, a museum in Recife devoted to the artist Fernando Brennand. Azevedo was formerly the director of institutional relations and governance at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo.