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(NEW YORK, NY – January 14, 2010)—Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum, has announced two staff appointments for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project: Suzanne Cotter, Curator of Exhibitions, Abu Dhabi Project, and Reem Fadda, Associate Curator for Middle Eastern Art, Abu Dhabi Project. Ms. Cotter and Ms. Fadda will join members of the Abu Dhabi Project team to develop future exhibition programming for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and to advise on the creation of its art collection focused on international postwar art. They will report to Juan Ignacio Vidarte, Deputy Director and Chief Officer of Global Strategies, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and work in close association with the Guggenheim Museum’s senior curatorial staff under the direction of Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Mr. Armstrong noted, “With their extensive scholarship, knowledge, and deep commitment to culture in the Middle East, Suzanne and Reem will be invaluable assets to the Abu Dhabi Project team.”
Suzanne Cotter, Curator of Exhibitions, Abu Dhabi Project
Since 2002 and up until her appointment as Curator of Exhibitions, Abu Dhabi Project,
Ms. Cotter held several succeeding positions at Modern Art Oxford, including Senior
Curator, Deputy Director, and Curator at Large. She also served as Acting Director
during the institution’s search for new leadership. From 1998 to 2002, she served as
Exhibitions Curator at the Hayward Gallery, South Bank Centre, London. She has
extensive curatorial experience, having organized more than thirty exhibitions of
contemporary art, including the group exhibitions Out of Beirut and Transmission
Interrupted with Gilane Tawadros and solo exhibitions with leading international artists.
She received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of
Culture and Communication in 2005.
As Curator of Exhibitions, Ms. Cotter will conceive and organize special exhibitions, oversee exhibition installations, develop public programs with education staff to accompany exhibitions, and oversee exhibition catalogues and related published materials in coordination with Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum staff. Ms. Cotter received a postgraduate diploma in cultural leadership from City University, London; an MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London; and a Diplôme du Premier Cycle from the Ecole du Louvre, Paris.
Reem Fadda, Associate Curator for Middle Eastern Art, Abu Dhabi Project
Ms. Fadda is an active curator and cultural practitioner, focusing on contemporary
cultural and aesthetic theory and practice in the Middle East. She was Director of the
Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art from 2005 to 2007 and worked as
Academic Director to the International Academy of Art Palestine, which she helped
found in 2006. She received an MA in curating from Goldsmiths College, London, and is
currently a Fulbright Scholar pursuing a PhD in the history of art and visual studies at
Cornell University. Ms. Fadda has extensive curatorial experience, having curated and
coorganized several art projects and exhibitions, most recently Tarjama/Translation at
the Queens Museum of Art in 2009 and, with Charles Esche, the Third Riwaq Biennale in
Ramallah. As Associate Curator for Middle Eastern Art for the Abu Dhabi Project, she
will conceive and organize special exhibitions of modern and contemporary Middle
Eastern art, advise on the Middle Eastern collection, and directly participate in regional
cultural activities.
About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum
Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the
understanding and appreciation of art, architecture, and other manifestations of visual
culture of the modern and contemporary periods, and to collect, conserve, and study the
art of our time. The Foundation realizes this mission through exceptional exhibitions,
education programs, research initiatives, and publications, and strives to engage and
educate an increasingly diverse international audience through its unique network of
museums and cultural partnerships. Currently, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
owns and operates the Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue in New York and the
Peggy Guggenheim Collection on the Grand Canal in Venice, and also provides
programming and management for two museums in Europe that bear its name: the
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. The Guggenheim
Abu Dhabi, a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by architect Frank
Gehry, is scheduled to open in 2013. With nearly three million annual visitors worldwide,
the Guggenheim and its network of museums form one of the most visited cultural
institutions in the world. Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the most important architects in
American history, designed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum––his only major
commission in New York City––beginning in 1943. When it opened in 1959, the
Guggenheim was as much a marvel of construction as it was of design; today it remains
among the twentieth century’s architectural landmarks. In 2008, the Guggenheim
completed a four-year restoration of its facade, and in 2009–10, the Guggenheim
celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.
About the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
From November 17, 2009, to February 4, 2010, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
in collaboration with Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) present The
Guggenheim: The Making of a Museum, the first exhibition to be organized as part of a
program of art and cultural development leading up to the opening of the Guggenheim
Abu Dhabi. The exhibition includes more than fifty major paintings from the collection
of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, representing the work of more than forty of the most important artists of the twentieth century. The exhibition is
presented under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE
Armed Forces.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
#1147
January 14, 2010
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:
Betsy Ennis, Director, Media and Public Relations
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Telephone: 212 423 3842
E-mail: bennis@guggenheim.org