Walker Art Center Curator Doryun Chong to Join New York's Museum of Modern Art as Associate Curator

Walker Art Center associate curator Doryun Chong has been appointed Associate Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at New York’s Museum of Modern Art effective June 2009. Since his arrival at the Walker in 2003, Chong has been a vital member of the curatorial team, most recently organizing the retrospective Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis (2008–2009), the artist’s first solo exhibition outside of Europe and Japan and the first comprehensive showing of his work in more than a decade. In addition, Chong organized Brave New Worlds (2007), with Yasmil Raymond; Catherine Sullivan: Triangle of Need (2007); and OPEN–ENDED (the art of engagement) (2006). With former chief curator and deputy director Philippe Vergne, he curated House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective (2005–2006), the first mid-career survey of the Paris-based Chinese artist, and he is currently at work on the forthcoming exhibition Haegue Yang (2009–2010), the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the U.S.

“In his nearly six years at the Walker, Doryun has introduced groundbreaking artwork into the collection, and developed memorably original research topics and exhibitions, which will occupy an important place in art historical scholarship in the years to come,” said Walker chief curator Darsie Alexander. “Already, he has transformed and advanced our thinking through such exhibitions as Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis and Brave New Worlds.”

Before joining the Walker, Chong worked in the curatorial department of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and organized/curated projects for the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2001) and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2003). He studied history of art at the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated in 1997 magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and with a Departmental Citation. He also did graduate work in history of art at Berkeley from 1997 to 2003. During his tenure at the Walker he has served on a number of panels and juries, including the Alpert Award in the Arts, Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the William H. Johnson Prize, and has lectured widely in such cities as San Francisco, Washington, DC, Vancouver, Barcelona, Seoul, and Tokyo. Chong is a contributing editor to the journal ArtAsiaPacific and was a co-curator of the 2006 Busan Biennale in Busan, South Korea.