The Israel Museum announced the appointment of Rita Kersting as its new Landeau Family Curator of Contemporary Art. A former director of the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, and currently working in The Netherlands as a curator of contemporary art, Kersting will begin her new position in Jerusalem on October 10, 2012.
During the past decade, Kersting has curated numerous exhibitions in Germany, including most recently abc—about painting in 2011, which presented 130 international artists represented by 120 galleries at Gleisdreick/Station, Berlin. She also conceived and founded a contemporary collection at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf and curated the contemporary collection for the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia. Kersting served as director of the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, the oldest art institution in Düsseldorf, from 2001 through 2007, and as a member of the Ankaufskommission für die Kunstsammlung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Acquisition Committee for the State Art Collection of Germany) from 2003 through 2007. During her tenure at the Kunstverein, she oversaw the renovation of the Kunsthalle and curated numerous exhibitions, including Zero Gravity in 2001, a group exhibition which showcased the work of Isa Genzken, Martin Kippenberger, and Wolfgang Tillmans, among others, as well as major solo presentations of such artists as Tacita Dean, Rineke Dijkstra, Sam Durant, and Richard Wright. Kersting received her M.A. in art history from the University of Cologne.
As Curator of Contemporary Art in the Museum’s Edmond and Lily Safra Fine Arts Wing, Kersting will be responsible for extending the Museum’s cutting-edge contemporary art program, overseeing acquisitions and exhibitions, and sustaining and growing the Museum’s impressive legacy of engagement with artists and collectors worldwide. www.english.imjnet.org.il