The MIT List Visual Arts Center names Natalie Bell as new curator
The MIT List Visual Arts Center announced today that Natalie Bell will be its next exhibition curator. Most recently, Bell served as associate curator at the New Museum, New York, where she worked since 2013. Bell begins her new appointment at the List Center on January 15, 2020.
“Natalie brings a strong, fresh, and international curatorial perspective to our programming efforts,” said Paul C. Ha, Director of the List Center. “We look forward to her leadership role in introducing new and exciting exhibition projects to our diverse audiences. Her vision fits in perfectly with the List Center’s mission to expand our reputation as a strong supporter of artists at decisive points in their careers.”
At the New Museum, New York, Bell co-organized large-scale group exhibitions including: The Warmth of Other Suns (2019), Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon (2017), The Keeper (2016), and Here and Elsewhere (2014). She also curated solo exhibitions by Lubaina Himid (2019), Mariana Castillo Deball (2019), Marguerite Humeau (2018), Dan Herschlein (2018), Aslı Çavuşoğlu (2018), Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa (2018), Hiwa K (2018), Anna Boghiguian (2018), Jonathas de Andrade (2017), Elaine Cameron-Weir (2017), and Barbara Rossi (2015), in addition to several other solo shows co-curated with New Museum colleagues. Bell received an MA in philosophy from the Graduate Center of City University of New York.
Prior to joining the New Museum, she was assistant curator for the International Art Exhibition of the 55th Venice Biennale, working with curator Massimiliano Gioni on organizing The Encyclopedic Palace. Bell has contributed to publications such as Art in America, Art Papers, Aperture and Mousse, and has edited and co-edited numerous catalogues including: Lubaina Himid: Work from Underneath (2019); The Same River Twice: Contemporary Art in Athens (2019); Aslı Çavuşoğlu: The Place of Stone (2018); Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa (2018); Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Under-Song For A Cipher (2017); Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon (2017); The Keeper (2016); Andra Ursuta: Alps (2016); Anri Sala: Answer Me (2016); and Here and Elsewhere (2014).
“I’ve long admired the List Center as a laboratory for art and ideas,” Bell said, “and MIT’s concentration of wildly intelligent, creative, and innovative people is a dream community to think and work alongside. I’m deeply excited to build on the List’s extraordinary history and to continue to advance its mission through a commitment to experimentation and risk-taking in the arts.”
Philip S. Khoury, Associate Provost and Ford International Professor of History, who oversees the arts at MIT, stated, “MIT and the List will benefit greatly from Natalie Bell’s years of curatorial experience, deep knowledge, and interdisciplinary focus in her work with contemporary artists. She is an exceptional addition to the List’s programming team, and we are pleased to have her join the MIT community.”
Bell was selected by a search committee comprised of Susie Allen, Camilø Alvårez, Audrey Foster, Dr. John Guttag, Paul C. Ha, Geoffrey Hargadon, Leila Kinney, Lucy Moon-Lim, Robert Nagle, Cindy Reed, Matt Saunders, Jeanne Stanton, and Gloria Sutton. Bell succeeds Henriette Huldisch, who departed for the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in December 2019, to be the Walker’s chief curator and director of curatorial affairs.
About the MIT List Visual Arts Center
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world’s leading research universities, believes the arts strengthen MIT’s commitment to the aesthetic, human, and social dimensions of research and innovation. The List Visual Arts Center is a creative laboratory that provides artists with space to experiment and push boundaries, creating a context for understanding how the contemporary visual arts reflect and express the complex social and cultural issues in a changing world. The dynamic annual program of six to nine gallery exhibitions includes a program of work by emerging artists known as List Projects, as well as a broad range of educational programs, events, and scholarly publications. As the contemporary art museum at MIT, the List Center also maintains and adds to MIT’s permanent collection; commissions new public art works through the MIT Percent-for-Art program; and oversees a program that lends approximately 600 works of art annually to MIT students.
MIT’s public art collection and exhibitions at the List Center are free and open to the public. For more information visit listart.mit.edu
Photo credit: Natalie Bell. Photo: Jeff Henrikson. Courtesy of MIT List Visual Arts Center.
