SculptureCenter Appoints Christian Rattemeyer, Longtime MoMA Curator, as Director -ARTnews

Christian Rattemeyer, who has spent 12 years as associate curator in the department of drawings and prints at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, has been named as SculptureCenter’s next director. Taking up the post on November 1, Rattemeyer succeeds Mary Ceruti, who became director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis earlier this year.

As director of SculptureCenter, which is located in Long Island City, Rattemeyer will oversee all exhibitions and programming. A few of his curatorial credits at MoMA have included “Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America 1960-1980” (2015), “Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan” (2012), and “Projects 95: Runa Islam” (2011). He is currently co-organizing the show “SURROUNDS: 11 Installations” for the museum’s reopening in October.

Rattemeyer began his career as an artists’ assistant at the ninth edition of Documenta in his hometown of Kassel, Germany in 1992, and he was also involved in producing Documentas 10 and 11. In 1997, he founded and served as gallery director of Osmos, a contemporary project space in Berlin (now located in New York), and he was co-curator of the third and fourth International Biennials for Film and Architecture Berlin. He relocated to New York in 2003 and joined Artists Space as curator, where he worked for four years.

“The last 12 years at MoMA have been hugely fulfilling and I’ve learned so much from my colleagues there, from the committees and trustees, and everyone,” Rattemeyer told ARTnews. “I think going to SculptureCenter and being able to serve [the museum] as a director allows me to go back to my original passion of working more closely with artists. I feel deeply honored to be able to serve an institution that is so artist-focused.”

He added that he looks forward to establishing collaborations and partnerships between SculptureCenter and international institutions, as well as reaching new audiences.

Artist Carol Bove, who serves as president of the museum’s board, said of Rattemeyer in a statement, “He is a passionate idealist who also brings practical institutional-building skills and strategic insight to reinforce our strength as a platform for radical thought and practice.”