The Denver Museum of Contemporary Art will have a new director in Anthony Kiendl, who comes to the center from the Vancouver Art Gallery, where he served as Executive Director and Managing Director. The MCA Denver has a unique structure for the city that was the first Davide admiseum Commission, providing an opportunity to expose the City’s passers-by to an Avant-Garde program such as Lorraine O’Grady’s Unauthorized family album (1980), which showed in 2010, before his current revival. We caught up with Kiendl to hear about his plans for the center.
Congratulations on your new job! How is your relationship with denver? Have you attended often? What is your opinion about it?
I am new to Denver, having visited maybe five times in the last seven years or so. I am drawn to the open spaces, and equally to the exploration of the mountains. There is something about this middle (where the plains meet the mountains) that can be so powerful. It is literally and figuratively at the center of everything in my imagination. The city feels alive with opportunity at this time.
What are some of your priorities for 100 days at MCA Denver?
I want to prioritize meeting people, and art and ideas. I want to have conversations, write notes, draw maps and think about the future.
What lessons would you say you learned at the Vancouver Art Gallery?
My experience in Vancouver was remote. Being on the Pacific Rim, Vancouver has a laid back local relationship. Tokyo was so far ahead of New York, the difference in travel time was negligible. Similarly, the links with Hong Kong are innumerable. It presents new opportunities and thoughts. It’s surprising that Vancouver has come up with a different perspective on what it means to be ‘Regional.’ I have spent most of my career off center and trying, in a modest way, to minimize the world of art. I gained new insights into the economy of scale, space and communication in the art world, how history is written and what really matters.
Colorado musicians are part of MCA Denver’s Mission but it’s the International Superstars that get people in the door. How do you plan to navigate those two quests?
These quests are not exclusive. I want to break down binaries like superstar vs unknown or local vs International. Instead of scanning only for the “next big thing,” I’m interested in understanding what’s important here and now and why? My focus is with communities; What is the context, the need, the right desire? After that, the ideas and platforms have come forward by themselves. I want to find ways to connect Colorado to the world and vice versa. These methods will take unexpected changes, reveal the unexpected and surprise there. I would add that many voices are often stronger than one voice.
You were known for your work with indigenous artists in Canada. Do you have plans for similar types of outreach in America?
I think I would go back to the previous answer. What I will add is that I have learned that in the natural environment of the world, visitors from another place often want to know what is different in a certain place. By definition, traditional culture speaks to this. Therefore, in the art museum there is an ongoing opportunity to respond to that century. In response to that interest, we can support local and indigenous artists, engage in different forms of knowledge and better understand our place in the world. This brings us back to this place, where we can build awareness, which means pride.
MCA Denver has an impressive location. What’s so exciting about making shows happen in this particular building? What are its challenges?
I love the design of MCA Denver – it’s playful art that evokes curiosity and sparks curiosity. There are great juxtapos, sight lines and other fun things. It is a different pleasure to experience the structure. I agree with its blocking and cooling. It does not rule art. There is limited construction that will never scream creativity. CHALLENGES? Limited space is a problem. But working with constraints often inspires creative solutions.
How do you feel about an exhibition in the same city as the Clyford still in the museum, which is deeply loved by Art History Nerds. Is it scary? Is it exciting?
I’m so happy to be working in an open space with so many voices, institutions and histories! I want to be in a place where the whole is greater than the individual parts. Again, I refer back to the global context. We need a critical mass of registration on an international scale. I believe it is happening here in Colorado with exciting developments including Aspen, Boulder, Colorado Springs and connected to, for example, Santa Fe. Together this is a shared chorus – including small and small sounds, counterports and inconsistencies – taken together make a sound that is not only important, but universal.
Lots of art in Denver
