Clara M. Kim to Join London’s Tate Modern

The rigorous five-month search for Tate Modern’s Daskalopoulos Senior Curator of International Art ended on November 26, with the appointment of Clara M. Kim. Currently a senior researcher at the recently opened Asian Cultural Complex in Gwangju—where she is establishing Asia’s first collection of video art—and program advisor for Kadist Foundation (Paris/San Francisco), Kim will assume her new role in London prior to the launch of Tate Modern’s new extension in June 2016.

Working with Tate’s growing collection of non-Western art, with a particular focus on works from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Kim will support the institution’s ambitions to broaden the research, acquisition and exhibition of art produced in these regions.

Kim is no stranger to England’s capital. Earlier this year, the Los Angeles-based independent curator helmed the Spotlight section of Frieze Masters in London and Frieze New York, a platform at each fair dedicated to the solo presentation of 20th-century art. Prior to this, from 2011­–13, Kim was the senior curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Notable exhibitions that she curated include the touring mid-career survey of conceptual Mexican sculptor Abraham Cruzvillegas, entitled “The Autoconstrucción Suites” (2013–15), and Korean artist Minouk Lim’s first major American debut, “Heat of Shadow” (2012).

Kim’s curatorial career took off during her stint at REDCAT, an interdisciplinary arts center based in Los Angeles, where she began as an associate curator and rose through the ranks to become director within four years.

Along with Kim, Tate Modern also welcomes Nancy Ireson to the International Art department of its curatorial team. Supporting Kim, Ireson will help develop the programming and research upcoming acquisitions for the institution. Also from the United States, Ireson has been a curator at the Art Institute of Chicago since 2013, specializing in the museum’s collection of works on paper.

Sylvia Tsai is associate editor at ArtAsiaPacific.