CIMAM New Members September 2026
CIMAM welcomes a new round of members to its international community. Based in institutions across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, its members include museum and foundation directors, artistic directors, and curators. Their work ranges from building new institutions to stewarding historic collections, curating major exhibitions and biennial pavilions, and research across art history and photography, adding new depth to the exchange of knowledge across CIMAM's global network.
Krist Gruijthuijsen – Director/CEO, EMMA, Finland. Trained in fine art in Maastricht and Antwerp, with further curatorial studies in Stockholm and London. Held leadership roles across Europe, including co-founding director of Kunstverein Amsterdam, Head of Fine Art at the Sandberg Institute, director of Grazer Kunstverein, and an eight-year directorship at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, alongside a role as curator at large at Kunsthaus Zürich. Took over as Director and CEO of EMMA in 2025.
Lauren Cornell – Artistic Director, Hessel Museum, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, United States. Holds a BA in English from Oberlin College. With CCS Bard since 2017, serving as Director of the Graduate Program and Chief Curator before her recent promotion to Artistic Director. Spent the previous twelve years at the New Museum in New York, including as Executive Director of its digital art affiliate Rhizome and later Associate Director of Technology Initiatives.
Elvira Eevr Djaltchinova-Malec – President of the Warsaw Institute for Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Foundation named after Nejad Devrim, Poland. Founded and has led the Institute since 2016. Earlier career combined academic and curatorial work: teaching Asian art history and architecture at Warsaw University, heading the Asian collection and non-European ethnography department at the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, an assistant curatorship at the Asia and Pacific Museum, and two decades teaching philosophy, semiotics, and Asian art and culture at the University of Białystok.
Phuong Phan – Assistant Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, United Arab Emirates. An art historian and social anthropologist (PhD in progress) whose curatorial practice bridges contemporary art, critical theory, and area studies, with training spanning Southeast Asia studies, global art history, and anthropology. Before her current role, she worked with Gropius Bau, Kunsthalle Münster, and Projectspace NON Berlin, and collaborated with Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Sinema Transtopia.
Julieta Pestarino – Assistant Curator, The J. Paul Getty Museum, United States. Argentine photography curator and researcher with a PhD in History and Theory of Arts and a Master's in Curatorial Studies from Argentine universities, plus a range of international fellowships. Before joining the Getty's Department of Photographs in 2024, she worked at CEDODAL in Buenos Aires, held a curatorial internship at the Getty Research Institute, and researched the photography collection at Buenos Aires' Museum of Modern Art. Her work centers on the history of Argentine and Latin American photography.
Solvita Krese – Director, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Latvia. Holds an MA in Art History and Theory from the Latvian Academy of Art and a postgraduate diploma in cultural management from the European Cultural Foundation. Has directed the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art since 2000, curating major projects including Latvia's pavilions at the 2022 and 2026 Venice Biennales, and currently sits on a working group developing a future Museum of Contemporary Art in Latvia.
Katharina Beisiegel – Director, Kirchner Museum Davos, Switzerland. Holds a Magister Artium in Art History and Media Studies from the University of Konstanz, along with postgraduate museum studies training. Has led the Kirchner Museum Davos since 2021, after several years as an independent curator and, before that, eight years at Art Centre Basel, rising from exhibition manager to deputy director. Also lectures on modern art and museum practice at the University of Konstanz.
Marcia Harvey Isaksson – Director & Curator, Southnord, Sweden. Background spans accounting, architecture, and design, with credentials including a Bachelor's in Product and Spatial Design from Beckmans College of Design and further study in architecture and critical studies at the Royal Institute of Art. Founded and directed Fiberspace from 2015 to 2023 before founding Southnord in 2022, an institution bridging the Nordic and African contemporary art scenes, while also running her own interior architecture and exhibition design practice since 2012.
Robert Leckie – Director, Gasworks, United Kingdom. Holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art and a BA in Performance and Visual Arts from the University of Brighton. Returned to Gasworks as Director after leading Spike Island in Bristol from 2018 to 2024, having previously served as Curator at Gasworks from 2011 to 2018. Was also a jury member for the 2022 Turner Prize.