The foundation of the late collector David Teiger (1929-2014) has gifted $1m to MoMA PS1, which will go toward supporting the Queens-based art centre’s exhibitions programme. Shows supported through the gift will include the institution’s next run of solo shows, including exhibitions by the Montreal-born comics-influenced artist Julien Ceccaldi, the Rhode Island-born painter Whitney Claflin and the Angolan installation artist Sandra Poulson.
The Teiger Foundation’s gift marks ten years since the death of the organisation’s namesake, and honours his formative role as the first trustee that the Manhattan-based Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) nominated to join MoMA PS1’s board in anticipation of the two institutions becoming affiliated in 2000.
Sandra Poulson, Dust as an Accidental Gift (2023 Courtesy of the artist and Sharjah Architecture Triennial. Photo: Ana Teixeira
“David’s nomination by MoMA to the newly formed MoMA PS1 board was an experiment,” Alanna Heiss, the founder and director of MoMA PS1 from 1976 to 2010, said in a statement. “Both of us were apprehensive but we soon fell madly in love. His passion for contemporary art had just been ignited. I re-saw artists through his eyes, and he saw possible exhibitions of artists through my eyes. He was loved and feared by artists for his intelligence, his understanding and his belief that each artwork should be made with an even greater passion than he had for it. David was most comfortable in the company of artists and curators. On this tenth anniversary of his death, I believe he would be happy to know that, with the support of Teiger Foundation, curatorial teams at PS1 will continue to creatively instigate the controlled madness we call making exhibitions.”
The Teiger Foundation gift will support exhibitions programming in the spring of 2025 including the work of curators Jody Graf (organising the Claflin exhibition, 27 March-25 August), Elena Ketelsen González (curator of Poulson’s show, 24 April-6 October) and Kari Rittenbach (organising Ceccaldi’s show, 27 March-25 August).
“As a board member of MoMA PS1 and honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art for over a decade, David Teiger’s dedication to contemporary art and artists made ambitious curatorial ideas possible,” Glenn D. Lowry, MoMA’s director, said in a statement. “He loved giving curators the opportunity to experiment and take risks. I am thrilled that his enthusiasm and generosity will continue to support the exceptional program at PS1 through the Teiger Foundation Exhibition Fund.”
MoMA PS1's curatorial team (left to right): Ruba Katrib, Elena Ketelsen González, Jody Graf, Sheldon Gooch and Kari Rittenbach Photo: Marissa Alper
The gift comes amid a period of changes at MoMA PS1 and its affiliate across the East River. MoMA PS1’s director Connie Butler has been on the job—after returning to New York following an acclaimed run as chief curator at the Hammer Museum at the University of California Los Angeles—for a little over a year. Meanwhile, Lowry recently revealed that he will step down as MoMA’s director, following a transformative 30-year stint, in September 2025.
“Throughout its history, MoMA PS1 has been an incubator for curators working on all platforms, offering an integrated curatorial approach that spans our galleries, the stage, and the city,” Butler said in a statement. “Our curators are pushing forward this important ethos through experimental, international programming.”
Per the terms of the two institutions’ affiliation, MoMA—whose total operating expenses for fiscal year 2024 were around $269.3m—contributes up to 15% of MoMA PS1’s annual operating budget. MoMA PS1’s expenditures in the fiscal year 2022 were around $10.6m.