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Philippe Vergné Arrives at the Bass in Miami Ready to Curate Again

"I used to think more in terms of a divide between museums and the marketplace, as if they weren't working in tandem. Now I see it more as a relationship with necessary boundaries, like any healthy partnership."

The Bass Museum announced recently that Philippe Vergné—who has run museums from Marseille to Minneapolis to Los Angeles and, since 2019, Porto’s Serralves—would soon arrive in Miami Beach as the institution’s first artistic director and chief curator. He starts in October, sharing the museum’s leadership with executive director Silvia Karman Cubiñá in a role the two invented over months of conversation. He inherits an institution mid-transformation, with a Johnston Marklee expansion on the way and Art Basel Miami Beach two blocks from his door. We caught up with him to hear more about his new gig.

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You’ve described this move as a return to curating after years of running institutions, saying you want to find out if you “still have it.” I assume that’s kind of a joke, but after three decades and several directorships, why do you want to return to hands-on curatorial work?

Well, it is only kind of a joke. At the end of the day this is what I love the most. The dialogue with artists, accompanying their vision, learning from them. I never stopped curating, I just had to do it less in the director role. Years ago I learned from my friend and colleague Adam Weinberg when he was the director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, that even as a director you don’t stop curating.

Being a director allowed me to have a different impact on an institution, allowing me to give opportunities to a younger generation of curators, which for me was very important because when I was a younger curator I benefited from people who trusted me. I was intrigued by the challenge of being a director, but mind you, I’ve been director of institutions that are very special. They have all been very artist-centered institutions, where the role of a director is different because they never lose direct contact with the artists. In Europe especially, the role of the director is also artistic director, unlike in U.S. institutions where there is often a distinction, so I have been able to curate a lot over the last few years.

Eighteen months ago, I curated an exhibition at the Serralves with eight artists entitled “Material Evidence,” and I understood that I was missing that curatorial role. I’m 60 years old now, and I want to do what, I hope, I know how to do well.

The position is a new one, developed with Silvia Karman Cubiñá, whom you’ve known for years. How do you picture the artistic director and chief curator responsibilities dividing between the two of you in practice?

I see it as a partnership. One is about building an institution. The other........

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