Photo credit: Grace Roselli
Ep.192 Allison Glenn is a New York-based curator and writer focusing on the intersection of art and public space, through public art and special projects, biennials and major new commissions by a wide range of contemporary artists. She is a Visiting Curator in the Department of Film Studies at the University of Tulsa, organizing the Sovereign Futures convening, and Artistic Director of The Shepherd, a three-and-a-half-acre arts campus part of the newly christened Little Village cultural district in Detroit.
Previous roles include Co-Curator of Counterpublic Triennial 2023, Guest Curator at the Speed Art Museum, and Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. In this role, Glenn shaped how outdoor sculpture activates and engages Crystal Bridges’ 120-acre campus through a series of new commissions, touring group exhibitions, and long term loans. She has also acted as the Curatorial Associate + Publications Manager for Prospect New Orleans’ international art triennial Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp.
Her writing has been featured in catalogues published by The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Counterpublic Triennial, Prospect New Orleans triennial, Princeton Architectural Press, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Kemper Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, and she has contributed to Artforum, ART PAPERS, Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, and ART21 Magazine, amongst others.
Glenn sits on the Board of Directors for ARCAthens, a curatorial and artist residency program based in Athens, Greece, New Orleans, LA and The Bronx, New York. She received dual Master’s degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Modern Art History, Theory and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy, and a Bachelor of Fine Art Photography with a co-major in Urban Studies from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Allison Glenn https://www.allisonglenn.com/
Artnet https://news.artnet.com/art-world/valuations-allison-glenn-2395989
NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/arts/design/counterpublic-st-louis-public-art.html
e-flux https://www.e-flux.com/criticism/537239/counterpublic-2023
The Architects Newsletter https://www.archpaper.com/2022/04/david-adjayes-first-permanent-public-artwork-among-art-and-architectural-commissions-for-2023-counterpublic-triennial-in-st-louis/
Artnet https://news.artnet.com/art-world/counterpublic-2023-2106157
ARTnews https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/shaping-art-2022-deciders-1234612406/naomi-beckwith/
NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/arts/design/best-art-2021.html
Observer https://observer.com/power-series/2021-arts-power-50/
SAIC https://www.saic.edu/news/alum-allison-glenn-and-the-power-of-listening
NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/arts/design/speed-museum-breonna-taylor-curator.html
Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/02/25/speed-art-museum-will-reflect-on-the-death-of-breonna-taylor-in-an-exhibition
Surface https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/breonna-taylor-exhibition-speed-art-museum-other-news/#taylor
Artnet https://news.artnet.com/art-world/louisville-speed-art-museum-breonna-taylor-1945823
Observer https://observer.com/2021/02/breonna-taylor-speed-art-museum-louisville/
88.9 WEKU https://www.weku.org/post/new-speed-exhibition-honor-life-legacy-breonna-taylor#stream/0
Sugarcane Magazine https://sugarcanemag.com/2020/06/four-women-black-curators-who-encapsulate-the-shift-of-the-art-world-by-chenoa-baker/
Hyperallergic https://hyperallergic.com/546373/state-of-the-art-202o-at-crystal-bridges-museum-of-american-art/
As Visiting Curator at the University of Tulsa, Glenn organized Sovereign Futures, a four-day convening of leading artists, academics, curators, and minds that will unfold over time and in multiple locations.
April 4-7, 2024
For the convening, Glenn has commissioned Chant Down, a performance that investigates the forces and rebellious energies that inhabit traditional Caribbean songs and explores the anticolonial legacies that gave shape to ancestral percussive and chanting techniques.
Image credit: Camila Falquez
Image from Chant Down performance, featuring Carolina Oliveros, Mobéy Lola Irizarry, Gina Soto, and Luis Rincón Alba. Courtesy of the artists and Hannah Traore Gallery, New York
Camila Falquez
Image from Chant Down performance, featuring Carolina Oliveros, Mobéy Lola Irizarry, Gina Soto, and Luis Rincón Alba.
Courtesy of the artists and Hannah Traore Gallery, New York
Exterior view of The Shepherd
A new public arts campus in Detroit. Glenn will open a group exhibition in August.
Artists include: Lotus L. Kang, Celeste, Ilana Savdie, Kennedy Yanko, Bethany Collins, and more.
Photo: Jason Keen/Library Street Collective
Interior view of The Shepherd
Adapted by Peterson Rich office into a series of flexible spaces for exhibitions, gatherings, and research.
Photo: Jason Keen/Library Street Collective.
