Shamim M. Momin Appointed Director and Chief Curator of Bronx Museum

Shamim M. Momin Appointed Director and Chief Curator of Bronx Museum

The Bronx Museum of the Arts has announced Shamim M. Momin as its next director and chief curator. Momin, who was most recently director of curatorial affairs at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, will take up her new post in early September amid a planned $42.9 million transformation of the museum’s South Wing slated for completion next fall. She returns to the city more than fifteen years after inaugurating her curatorial career there, at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Momin succeeds Klaudio Rodriguez, who left the Bronx Museum last year to lead the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida. “The board welcomes Shamim M. Momin, whose vision, reputation, and decades of experience as a leading voice in the field of contemporary art will be invaluable in her role leading the Bronx Museum of the Arts forward as we begin this new, exciting, and expansive chapter,” said museum board chair Joseph Mizzi in a statement. “The Bronx Museum has always been at the forefront of championing underrepresented voices, and I am fully confident that Shamim will uphold that legacy and is uniquely qualified to expand and enhance the impact of the museum and its mission.” In her role at the Henry Art Gallery, which she occupied from 2018 to 2024, Momin oversaw commissions by artists including Kelly Akashi, Diana Al-Hadid, Tala Madani, Gary Simmons, and Hank Willis Thomas. In 2008, she cofounded LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division), a nonprofit public organization devoted to presenting site-specific contemporary art projects in the area, serving as its director and curator until 2018. Before moving to the West Coast, she spent more than ten years as an associate curator at the Whitney, where she was a cocurator of the institution’s 2004 and 2008 biennials. She also served as branch director and curator of the Whitney Museum at Altria, an outpost on lower Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, where she commissioned more than fifty projects from emerging artists. “It is an honor to accept the role of director and chief curator at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, an institution that stands apart in its commitment to both excellence and access in the contemporary art world,” said Momin in a statement. “With its powerful exhibitions, remarkable permanent collection, and pioneering education programs like the AIM Fellowship and Teen Council, I’m humbled to join an organization that not only champions diverse artists but is deeply embedded in the communities it serves. The Bronx Museum’s commitment to amplifying diverse voices and upholding social justice aligns strongly with my own practice and values, and I look forward to leading this singular museum into its next exciting era with the opening of its world-class renovation.” Related Wael Shawky to Helm Inaugural Art Basel Qatar Heather Gerken Named President of Ford Foundation