New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has appointed Duygu Demir as curator of The NYUAD Art Gallery.
An art historian and curator, Demir was a founding member of SALT, the research-based cultural institution in Istanbul, where she has co-curated numerous solo and group shows and public programmes as well as editing two monographic in-house publications. She has also curated exhibitions at İMALAT-HANE in Bursa, artSümer in Istanbul and Arter in Istanbul. Demir has contributed to several art publications including Art Journal and Art Margins, various media outlets, the exhibition catalogue for the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and two books published by Phaidon, Art Cities of the Future: Avant-Gardes of the 21st Century (2013) and Vitamin D2: New Perspectives in Drawing (2013).
As part of her new role, Demir will curate exhibitions and programmes including Curators Talk, a series of public talks in which curators discuss their approaches to their practice. Commenting on the programme, she said: “We want the series to offer a space for dialogue, reflection and exploration for the art-curious. We will soon announce additional new series to complement our wide-ranging exhibition programme.”
Maya Allison, executive director and chief curator of The NYUAD Art Gallery, said: “Duygu Demir brings her very rare combination of scholarly training in non-Western modernism, and her commitment to cultural production through exhibitions and programs. Her work makes a critical contribution to our mission, as we train future generations of museum professionals and art historians, through our work of investigative exhibition-making, and projects with artists from around the globe.”
Demir was also appointed as research assistant professor of art history, in keeping with The NYUAD Art Gallery’s role as a teaching institution within NYUAD. Her academic research areas include non-Western modernisms, exhibition histories, transnational artistic encounters and the intersection of art and architecture.
Her appointment comes as The NYUAD Art Gallery prepares to mark its tenth anniversary in 2024.
