Philippe Vergne is the director of the Dia Art Foundation.
Education:
In 1988, he received a BA in law from the University of Paris II, Assas. In 1989, he received a BA in archaeology and the history of modern art from the University of Paris IV, Sorbonne, where he continued his studies, earning an MA (1991) and Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies (First Doctoral Diploma) (1992), both in art history.
Personal:
Mr. Vergne was born in 1966 in Troyes, France.
Background:
Mr. Vergne is a highly respected museum professional in the world of contemporary art. Having joined the Walker in 1997, he organized more than twenty-five international exhibitions, including How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age, Let's Entertain, Herzog & de Meuron: In Process, and the first retrospective of the work of Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping, a traveling exhibition that premiered at the Walker in October 2005. He additionally coordinated artist residencies with Joep van Lieshout, Christian Marclay, and Nari Ward, and oversaw the collection exhibitions that inaugurated the Walker's expanded facility.
In the fall of 2004, Mr. Vergne was appointed director of the Francois Pinault Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris. In July of 2005, when the Foundation moved its proposed museum from Paris to Venice, Mr. Vergne returned to the Walker as deputy director and chief curator. In 2006, he co-curated the Whitney Biennial, with Chrissie Iles, and in 2007, he organized Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love, the first survey of work by this artist; it premiered at the Walker Art Center before traveling to the Musee d'art moderne, in Paris; the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York City; the Hammer Museum, in Los Angeles; and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, where it opens on July 5, 2008. Over the past decade, Mr. Vergne has brought to the Walker collection significant works by artists including Doug Aitken, Daniel Buren, Tony Conrad, Dan Graham, Rineke Dijstra, Sheela Gowda, David Hammons, Thomas Hirshhorn, Mr. Huang, Pierre Huyghe, Cameron Jamie, Mike Kelley, Yves Klein, Luc Tuymans, Philippe Parreno, and Ms. Walker, among others.
A frequent lecturer, Mr. Vergne has edited and contributed essays to numerous books and catalogues, and has written for major art magazines. In 2008, Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love was awarded the "Best Monograph Museum Show Nationally" by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). In 2005, ArtReview magazine named Mr. Vergne "one of the 100 most influential people in the art world," and in 2004, he was honored by the French government with the prestigious medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, which recognizes an individual's professional achievements in the fields of art and literature.
