Photo by Jessica Smolinski
Performance Studies Ph.D. candidate, Christina Yang, was appointed Chief Curator of The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
BAMPFA announced yesterday the appointment of Christina Yang as the museum’s next chief curator. Yang brings to BAMPFA nearly thirty years of experience as a curator, scholar, administrator, and educator—most recently at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), where she currently serves as Deputy Director of Engagement and Curator of Education, following a fourteen-year tenure at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. She has previously held positions at The Kitchen and the Queens Museum.
In her new role at BAMPFA, Yang will lead the art curatorial department at Berkeley’s premier visual arts venue, which mounts more than fifteen exhibitions annually drawn in part from the museum’s internationally distinguished collection of 28,000 artworks. As chief curator, Yang will supervise all aspects of BAMPFA’s exhibition program, working closely with senior leadership to shape the long-term artistic vision for the museum. This appointment marks Yang’s return to her alma mater of UC Berkeley, where she studied History and History of Art and interned at BAMPFA as an undergraduate.
“The responsibility of being a curator has never been more urgent. From rethinking collections to providing equity in labor to diversifying all levels of relations, the care of art holds essential impact on our daily lives,” said Yang. “Since my own college and intern days, I have long been inspired by the BAMPFA as a transformative site of learning. Attending artist talks and avant-garde film screenings for the first time while also learning directly from the memorable collections of Chinese, Old Masters, and Abstract Expressionist paintings at the University Art Museum (now BAMPFA) catalyzed my imagination to the possibilities of a life in the arts. As an intern working with Sidra Stich, the power of research and care of objects solidified my aspiration to become a curator of modern and contemporary art. I am thrilled to rejoin this illustrious institution and its talented staff as Chief Curator under the leadership of Julie Rodrigues Widholm. Returning to a setting such as BAMPFA within the vibrant UC Berkeley and Bay Area communities embodies my career goal of building unique collections to inspire diverse generations of students, to activate a pedagogy for creative action, and to work with living artists in creating spaces of civic belonging.”
Congratulations Christina!