Helen Molesworth of the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston will join the rebounding Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles as its new chief curator (see artnet News article from last week). The museum also has a new director’s council to help with acquisitions of new work, chaired by art lawyer Joshua Roth, son of MOCA and Los Angeles County Museum of Art trustee Steven Roth, according to Cultured Mag.

As artnet News reported last month, the Istanbul Biennial has tapped Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, who directed last year’s successful Documenta 13, to lead its 2015 edition. She has since provided an extremely opaque curatorial statement in a press release.

The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, has rejected city director nominee Babacar M’Bow on the basis of his refusal to submit to a background check (see artnet News report). Alex Gartenfeld will continue to serve the troubled museum in an interim capacity.

William M. Griswold, of New York’s Morgan Library and Museum, has been hired by the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) as its new director, replacing David Franklin, who resigned amid scandal last October (see artnet News article).

New York’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum at the Smithsonian Institute has appointed Brooke Hodge, the director of exhibitions and publications at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, as its deputy director, reports Artforum.

Anne Baldassari, general commissioner, president and chief curator of the Musee National Picasso in Paris, is seen April 24, 2012, during a media preview of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Pablo Picasso exhibition.
(Fred Lum/Photo by Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)

As artnet News reported last month, France’s Ministry of Culture has fired Musée Picasso director Anne Baldassari, with the museum for 22 years, citing “brutal management” and “absenteeism,” rather than her failure to complete the museum’s renovation project on time. Following Baldassari’s dismissal, reports the Art Newspaper, French journalist Anne Sinclair tendered her resignation from the museum board, and was replaced by collector and author Anne-Marie Charbonneaux.

Cologne, Germany’s Museum Ludwig has a new director in Yilmaz Dziewior, currently the director of Austria’s Kunsthaus Bregenz (see artnet News report). His predecessor, Philip Kaiser, departed suddenly in February, and interim director Katia Baudin will continue to serve until Dziewior takes the helm in Feburary 2015.

There have been a number of departures at New York’s National Academy Museum and School following the promotion of faculty member Maurizio Pellegrin to creative director, reports Gallerist. Among those who have left are contemporary curator Marshall Price, now curator at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Senior curator Bruce Weber has been let go, along with several members of the administrative and building staff.

Diana Baldon has been appointed new director of Sweden’s Malmö Konsthall. An Italian art historian, critic, and curator, Baldon has been the head of Stockholm’s Index, the Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation since 2011.

The Shanghai Biennale has hired Anselm Franke, the head of visual arts at Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt as its chief curator, reports Artforum. Previously, he curated the 2012 Taipei Biennial.

Todd DeShields Smith is the new director and CEO of the Orange County Museum of Art, reports Gallerist. He previously was executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art.

Riason Naidoo.

Riason Naidoo was abruptly and unexpectedly fired as director of the South African National Gallery, a position he had held for five years, reports the Guardian. The institution’s first black director, Naidoo has filed a complaint with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration over his sudden dismissal.

The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, has named Katy Klin, most recently the interim director at Massachusetts’s Williams College Museum of Art, as its interim executive director. Former director Dennis Kois was named president of the Milwaukee Public Museum in February.

Art historian and curator Barbara Buhler Lynes, the founding curator of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, is now a senior curator at the Nova Southeastern University Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, as reported by Art in America.

Edie Wu, formerly of Sotheby’s Chinese ceramics and works of art department, has joined the Citi Art Advisory team in Hong Kong, according to the Baer Faxt.

Artadia, a nonprofit organization that offers grants to artists and art programs, has appointed public-relations executive Justin Conner and writer and art dealer Heather Harmon to its board, reports Artforum.