Ruba Katrib is a Syrian-American curator of contemporary art. She has served as Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at MoMA PS1 since 2017.Russeth, Andrew. “MoMA PS1 Names Ruba Katrib Curator”, ArtNews, 2017. Accessed 11-21-2022. From 2012 until 2017, Katrib was Curator at SculptureCenter in New York. Prior to this post, she worked first as Assistant Curator and then as Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami.“MoMA PS1 Appoints Ruba Katrib Curator.” Artforum, 2017. She is best known for exhibitions highlighting women artists and global issues.
Early life and education Katrib was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Charleston, West Virginia.Katrib, Ruba. “With the Banned: The Art World Should Mean the Whole World”. ArtNews, 2017. She is the first US-born child of Syrian immigrant parents.
Katrib holds degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.“Meet the NYC Art Community: Amid Crisis, Ruba Katrib is Looking to Artists for Guidance”, Hyperallergic, 2020. In 2002, while a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she co-founded ThreeWalls, a residency and exhibition space.Cash, Stephanie. “Ruba Katrib Named Curator at Sculpture Center.”ArtNews, 2012.
Career From 2007 until 2012, Katrib worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami as Assistant Curator before being named Associate Curator. Among the shows Katrib curated at MOCA were solo presentations by Cory Arcangel and Claire Fontaine (both 2010), and group exhibitions including The Possibility of an Island (2008) and Convention (2009). In 2011, she organized a symposium, “New Methods,” that looked at artist-run educational platforms in Latin America. Katrib was awarded a curatorial fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in 2010 to support research for “New Methods”.
Katrib became Curator at SculptureCenter in New York in 2012. At SculptureCenter, she curated the group exhibitions 74 million million million tons (2018) (co-curated with Lawrence Abu-Hamdan), The Eccentrics (2015), Puddle, pothole, portal (2014) (co-curated with Camille Henrot), Better Homes (2013), and A Disagreeable Object (2012); and solo shows of the work of Carissa Rodriguez (2018), Kelly Akashi, Sam Anderson, Teresa Burga, Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), Nicola L., Charlotte Prodger (all 2017), Rochelle Goldberg, Aki Sasamoto, Cosima von Bonin (all 2016), Anthea Hamilton, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Magali Reus, Gabriel Sierra, Michael E. Smith, Erika Verzutti (all 2015), David Douard, and Jumana Manna (both 2014). With Tom Eccles she co-curated Visitors, a group exhibition of public art on Governors Island, New York in 2015."Ruba Katrib". Parsons Fine Arts, 2015. Accessed 11-23-2022.
In 2017, Katrib was named Curator at MoMA PS1. At MoMA PS1 she has curated exhibitions such as Greater New York (2021), Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life (2021), Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991 - 2011 (2019) (co-curated with Peter Eleey), the retrospective Simone Fattal: Works and Days (2019), and the solo shows of Edgar Heap of Birds (2019), Karrabing Collective (2019), Fernando Palma Rodríguez, and Julia Phillips (2018). In 2018, Katrib curated prominent group invitational exhibition SITE Santa Fe and was a curatorial advisor for the Carnegie International. In 2021, Katrib was promoted to Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at MoMA PS1 and curated MoMA PS1's Greater New York invitational group exhibition of artists based in New York.Farago, Jason. “MoMA PS1 Gears Up for ‘Greater New York,’ With Busier New Director”. New York Times, 2020. She has served on the graduate committee at CCS Bard since 2017.
Katrib has contributed texts for a number of museum catalogues and periodicals including Art in America, Artforum, Cura Magazine, Kaleidoscope, Parkett, and Mousse. Her work is often concerned with diasporic and marginalized discourses in 21st-century artistic practices and the art world generally.
List of Exhibitions
MoMA PS1, New York, 2017 – present
Group exhibitions
Greater New York, 2021 Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991 - 2011, co-curated with Peter Eleey, 2019
Monographic exhibitions
Jumana Manna: Break, Take, Erase, Tally, 2022
Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life, 2021
Simone Fattal: Works and Days, 2019
Edgar Heap of Birds: Surviving Active Shooter Custer, 2019
Julia Phillips: Failure Detection, 2018
Fernando Palma Rodriguez: In Ixtli in Yollotl, We the People, 2018
SculptureCenter, New York, 2012 – 2017
Group exhibitions
74 million million million tons, co-curated with Lawrence Abu-Hamdan, 2017
The Eccentrics, 2015
Puddle, pothole, portal, co-curated with Camille Henrot, 2014
Better Homes, 2013
A Disagreeable Object, 2012
Monographic exhibitions
Carissa Rodriguez: The Maid, 2018 Kelly Akashi: Long Exposure, 2017 Sam Anderson: The Park, 2017 Teresa Burga: Mano Mal Dibujada, 2017 Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), 2017 Nicola L.: Works, 1968 to the Present, 2017 Charlotte Prodger: Subtotal, 2017 Rochelle Goldberg: The Plastic Thirsty, 2016 Aki Sasamoto: Delicate Cycle, 2016 Cosima von Bonin: Who's Exploiting Who in the Deep Sea?, 2016 Anthea Hamilton: Cigarette Pipes, 2015 Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, 2015 Magali Reus: Spring for a Ground, 2015 Gabriel Sierra: Numbers in a Room, 2015 Michael E. Smith: -, 2015 Erika Verzutti: Swan with Stage, 2015 David Douard: )juicy o'f the nest., 2014 Jumana Manna: Menace of Origins, 2014
Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, 2007 – 2012
Group exhibitions
The Reach of Realism, 2010 Convention, 2009 The Possibility of an Island, 2008 Dark Continents, 2008
Monographic exhibitions
Cory Arcangel: The Sharper Image, 2010 Claire Fontaine: Economies, 2010
Select publications
“Bettina: Photographs and Works by Bettina Grossman.” Aperture, 2022. “Erika Verzutti: The Indiscipline of Sculpture.” KMEC Books/MASP, 2022. Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life. MoMA PS1, 2021. “Neïl Beloufa: People Love War Data & Travels.” After 8 Books, 2021 “Leidy Churchman: Crocodile.” Dancing Foxes, Hessel Museum, Bard College, 2019. “Molecular Sculpture.” Art in America, 2017. “New Methods.” Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, 2013.
References