Since the death of its founding director Michael Rush in March 2015, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (Broad MSU) in East Lansing—which opened in 2012 and is named after the art world power couple who donated $28m to build the institution—has operated without a director. The museum has finally found someone to fill his impressive shoes: the Swiss contemporary art curator Marc-Olivier Wahler, who will take up the reins on 1 July.
“Marc-Olivier Wahler’s experience with international arts institutions makes him an ideal director for the Broad Art Museum at MSU,” Eli Broad said in a statement. Wahler’s current positions—at organisations in France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Turkey—include the founding director of the Chalet Society in Paris and the artistic advisor for the art fair Contemporary Istanbul. He has previously served as the director of the Swiss Institute in New York from 2000-06 and the director and chief curator of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris from 2006-12.
“The museum’s mission of employing international contemporary art and ideas as a platform for education and experimentation resonates deeply with so much of the work I have undertaken throughout my career,” Wahler said in a statement. The museum’s current shows that echo this mission include The Artist as Activist: Mahbubur Rahman and Tayeba Begum Lipi, on two contemporary Bangladeshi artists (until 7 August), and Immediate Things: Material and Culture from West Africa (until 27 March).