THE DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART (DMA) has been shoring up its curatorial department over the past year. The latest addition is Vivian Crockett, who is joining the museum as assistant curator of contemporary art. Crockett brings expertise in art of the African and Latinx diasporas and the Americas. She is currently a Joan Tisch Teaching Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
At DMA, Crockett will work closely with Anna Katherine Brodbeck, who was recently promoted to senior curator of contemporary art, and Vivian Li, who joined the museum as curator of contemporary art in September.
“We have been actively expanding the range of curatorial expertise and programming at the DMA to reflect both the incredible breadth of our encyclopedic collection and our diverse audiences locally, nationally, and internationally,” DMA Director Agustín Arteaga said in a statement.
“Vivian’s knowledge and scholarly contributions bring an exciting perspective to the research, presentation, and study of contemporary art, and build on the team’s existing expertise across the global spectrum of artistic practice.”
Prior to her fellowship at the Whitney Museum, Crockett was a Andrew W. Mellon Museum Research Consortium Fellow (2017-18) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Working in MoMA’s department of media and performance art, she provided support for the exhibition “Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done” (2018). With Erin Christovale, she also co-curated Visual AIDS’ 2017 Day With(out) Art: Alternate Endings, Radical Beginnings, an NEA-funded project organized around World AIDS Day 2017 that screened international at more than 120 venues.
“Vivian’s knowledge and scholarly contributions bring an exciting perspective to the research, presentation, and study of contemporary art, and build on the team’s existing expertise across the global spectrum of artistic practice.” — DMA Director Agustín Arteaga
At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Crockett was a lead researcher for a collection review project in the painting and sculpture department (2008 to 2011). The process led to a recalibration of the holdings—bringing visibility to overlooked artists and a deaccession initiative designed to raise resources for the acquisition of more works by women and artists of color.
Crockett is a Ph.D., candidate in art history at Columbia University, where she is completing a dissertation about Brazilian artists Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Pape and the participatory and media-based works they produced from the late 1960s to 70s. She earned an undergraduate degree in art history from Stanford University.
“Vivian has a demonstrated commitment to bringing under-explored artists and practices to the fore. I’m looking forward to working with her to support the DMA’s global and inclusive approach to contemporary art and to contributing new scholarship that helps expand the narrative of art history,” Brodbeck, the senior curator, said in a statement.
Crockett’s appointment was announced Feb. 13. She officially joins DMA on March 9.
“I am thrilled to join the DMA, an institution that has been at the forefront of shaping conversations on historic and contemporary art practices,” Crockett said in a statement. “The collection’s international scope in postwar and contemporary art will allow us to further the DMA’s commitment to representing the diverse histories and cultures of visitors through exhibitions and programs that are transnational, highlight understudied and underrepresented artists, and support contemporary artists.” CT
IMAGE: Vivian Crockett. | Photo by Naima Green
BOOKSHELF
Vivian Crockett contributed to “Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done,” the catalog that accompanied the Museum of Modern Art exhibition.
