Following Eungie Joo’s highly regarded exhibition “The Ungovernables,” which just closed at the New Museum, adjunct curator Lauren Cornell and the frenetic, surreal video artist Ryan Trecartin will curate the museum’s 2015 Generational Triennial, according to a New Museum press release.
Currently the director of new media nonprofit and New Museum resident Rhizome.org, Cornell has previously organized incisive exhibitions and projects for the institution, including 2010's “Free,” which examined how the Internet has changed our information landscape. She also led the development of the annual Seven on Seven conference series, which pairs technological innovators with visual artists for collaborative projects, as well as organized performances, lectures, and other events at the museum through the monthly "New Silent" series.
Considering Cornell’s background and the choice of Trecartin as a curatorial partner, it’s likely that the 2015 triennial will take on a new media bent. “Cornell and Trecartin came into their own in this millennium and are deeply in touch with how the world is changing and how artists of their generation are responding,” New Museum director Lisa Philips said in the press release. The 2015 triennial will be Trecartin’s first curatorial effort.
With the announcement comes a career change for Cornell. After seven years at Rhizome, she will step down as its director and continue to develop digital projects for the New Museum and organize public programming, as well as serve as a new core faculty member at Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, where she has previously taught classes. The search for a new Rhizome director is underway, and Cornell will remain until a replacement is found.