POST BY KAREN ARCHEY
View of the Kleihues-designed MCA Chicago building via: Wikipedia
Over the last couple years, there has been a bizarrely steady and massive exodus from the top posts at MCA Chicago. The latest is MCA Chief Curator Elizabeth Smith—known for her 2004 excavation of forgotten artist Lee Bontecou’s work—who announced she will be leaving the museum at the end of the month. A year and a half ago, former SF MoMA senior curator Madeleine Grynsztejn replaced Robert Fitzpatrick as the Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Fitzpatrick, who served as the museum’s director for over ten years, became the International Managing Director of Haunch of Venison, opening the London-based gallery’s New York office. Fitzpatrick lasted at Haunch of Venison for approximately a year, announcing his departure last March. In 2008, the MCA Chicago also saw the departures of curatorial darling Francesco Bonami, former Manilow Senior Curator at Large now organizing the 2010 Whitney Biennial, and curatorial assistant Kate Kraczon, who relocated to the ICA Philadelphia. An interim chief curator will be pulled from their remaining five curators, including Dominic Molon and Julie Rodrigues Widholm, while an international search is conducted for a permanent replacement.
