Displaying items by tag: resign

On Wednesday, August 28, 2013, Ann Goldstein announced that she will resign as director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Goldstein has helmed the museum since 2010 and oversaw its recent expansion, which reached completion in September 2012. Goldstein will leave her post on December 1, 2013.

After announcing her sudden departure, Goldstein released the following statement:

 It has been a privilege to serve this great institution, to oversee its re-opening after nearly nine years of closure, and to live and work in a community that deeply values the vital presence of the Stedelijk Museum in people’s lives. While assuming responsibility for a closed museum presented tremendous challenges, it also offered unexpected opportunities. With The Temporary Stedelijk (2010–12) we were able to reconsider what a museum could be for its publics—open or closed—offering exhibitions, public programs and education initiatives in our unfinished historic museum building and throughout Amsterdam prior to our reopening. Now, nearly a year since our reopening, we have achieved our long-anticipated goal of a fully functioning, international museum with an exhibition schedule that prepared for the next two years. I announced my resignation to the Supervisory Board on June 26, 2013, confident that my work is done and the museum is firmly poised for a new artistic director to lead it into the future. I feel a strong affection for this remarkable institution’s exceptionally devoted staff, board, and community, and have often said that the esteemed and inspiring history of the Stedelijk is part of my DNA as a museum professional. It will surely always remain close to my heart.

During her time at the Stedelijk, Goldstein helped acquire over 1,500 works for the museum’s permanent collection; over 600 of those pieces were donated. There has been some speculation that Goldstein will return to the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art where she served as the senior curator from 1983 to 2009.

After three years at the helm of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), former New York art dealer, Jeffrey Deitch, is expected to resign as director. Deitch announced his intention to leave the institution to MOCA's trustees and board. He is currently in the middle of a five-year contract with the museum.

Prior to joining MOCA in 2010, Deitch ran the Deitch Project, a massively successful and pioneering contemporary art gallery in Manhattan. He also served on the authentication committee of the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of Deitch’s close friends.

Deitch’s tenure at MOCA has been plagued by criticism. After firing longtime chief curator Paul Schimmel in 2012, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Catherine Opie and Barbara Kruger resigned from the museum’s board, leaving it void of artist representation. While MOCA was in poor financial standing when Deitch came on board, the museum continued to fall into financial despair during his time as director. The museum is just starting to regain its footing after fundraising efforts by board members garnered over $75 million in donations.

A meeting is schedule for MOCA’s board on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. A search committee is expected to form shortly after.

Less than two months after Richard Koshalek, the director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park in Washington, D.C. resigned, Constance Caplan, the chair of the museum’s board, has followed suit. Caplan announced her resignation in a strongly worded letter on July 8, 2013; she is the third member to leave the board since early June. Caplan cited lack of transparency, trust, vision and good faith as her reasons for leaving. Koshelek listed similar reasons in his resignation letter.

Staff members have been losing faith in the Hirshhorn since it embarked on its doomed Seasonal Inflatable Structure project in 2009. The project was continually stalled due to rising construction costs and conflicting feelings about the structure’s purpose. It was ultimately abandoned after Koshalek’s resignation.

The original vision was to create a 150-foot-tall bubble that would connect the inside and outside of the Hirshhorn and create additional space for installations and performances. Designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro, the bubble was expected to cost over $12.5 million to create and install. Previous fund-raising efforts brought in about $7.8 million. When it was first announced, the Bubble garnered national attention and was applauded for being highly innovated.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. has decided to abandon its Seasonal Inflatable Structure project, also known as “the Bubble.” Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough and Undersecretary Richard Kern announced the decision after the museum’s Director, Richard Koshalek, resigned due to the board of trustees’ inability to reach a consensus in regards to the project. Koshalek will step down on June 29, 2013.

The bubble project, which was considered Koshalek’s signature project, has been in debate since 2009 but was continually stalled due to rising construction costs and conflicting feelings about the structure’s purpose. The original vision was to create a 150-foot-tall bubble that would connect the inside and outside of the Hirshhorn and create additional space for installations and performances. Designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro, the bubble was expected to cost over $12.5 million to create and install. Previous fund-raising efforts brought in about $7.8 million.

When it was first announced, the Bubble garnered national attention and was applauded for being highly innovated.

Richard Koshalek, the director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., announced his resignation on May 23, 2013 after three years with the institution. Koshalek’s decision was prompted by the Hirshhorn’s board of trustees’ failure to reach a consensus in regards to a plan to cover the museum’s courtyard with a temporary inflatable bubble, which has been continually stalled.

Koshalek made the announcement during a board meeting, which was centered on the bubble project. During the meeting, the 15 board members were unable to agree whether or not to continue fundraising for the project. Officials said that the bubble will remain under consideration even after Koshalek’s departure.

If created, the bubble would connect the inside and outside of the Hirshhorn and create additional space for installations and performances. Designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro, the bubble is expected to cost over $12.5 million to create and install. Fundraising efforts have brought in about $7.8 million to date.