Assistant Curator, Architecture

Guggenheim curator since 2005

Maria Nicanor joined the curatorial staff in October 2005. At the Guggenheim, she has worked on several exhibitions, including Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso (awarded Best Historical Show for 2006–2007 by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA); Cy Twombly for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward (awarded Best Architecture/Design Show for 2008–2009 by AICA-USA); Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum; and most recently, Color Fields for the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. Together with Assistant Curator David van der Leer, Nicanor heads the curatorial team of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, an international traveling laboratory for urban experiments and public programs traveling to nine cities over six years. Nicanor is a regular contributor to contemporary-art and architecture publications and has lectured internationally on the future of museums in the 21st century and the role of architecture in museum practice. She holds a BA in Art History from the Autonoma University, Madrid, and Sorbonne University, Paris; an MA in Museum Studies from New York University; and a Ph.D. (ABD) from the Autonoma University, Madrid, with a focus on architectural history and theory.