STORR TO HEAD 2007 BIENNALE

In 2007 art historian, curator, and New York University professor Robert Storr will be the first American ever to direct the Venice Biennale. The Biennale’s president, Davide Croff, made the decision recently with the support of the board of directors as part of a three-year initiative to “renew” its visual arts sector.

From 1990 to 2002, Mr. Storr was senior curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art. He curated the retrospective of Lee Bontecou currently on exhibit there, and at the moment he is at work on an Elizabeth Murray show for next year.

Mr. Storr told the Sun he was “delighted and honored” to receive the Biennale appointment, and said he had not expected it. With the exhibition still three years away, Mr. Storr wasn’t willing to commit to any specific plans. He did say, however, that he wasn’t going to assemble the Biennale out of a “previous bag of tricks.”

“The Biennale is an institution,” said Mr. Storr. “Institutions are in some jeopardy because they’ve got ten amorphous and chaotic. I think part of the challenge is to sort of find out what the form of such an exhibition should be under present circumstances and to try to make shows that have a more clear focus.”

The director for the Biennale consults with each country’s committee about ideas for the exhibition. He does not typically suggest specific artists.

Mr. Storr does have biennial experience. Last month “Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque” opened at the 2004 SITE Santa Fe Biennial. Curated by Mr. Storr, it includes works by 60 international artists – including Louise Bourgeois and Paul McCarthy – and explores contemporary representations of the grotesque.

“I love making exhibitions and this is a big and exciting one,” Mr. Storr said. “I look at it as a chance to work.” In preparation for the 52nd Annual Venice Biennale in 2007, Mr. Storr will curate an international symposium on contemporary art in the fall of 2005.