Des Moines Art Center Announces New Associate Curator: LA Curator and Writer Ashton Cooper

DES MOINES, IOWA ( September 2024) – The Des Moines Art Center is excited to announce that Ashton Cooper will be joining the curatorial team as Associate Curator beginning in October.

A recent graduate of the Ph.D. program at the University of Southern California, Cooper has been a curatorial assistant and Luce Curatorial Fellow at the Hammer Museum at UCLA in Los Angeles since 2022 where her exhibition “Jennifer Bolande, Mona Hatoum, Alison Saar” will open in January 2025. Prior to that, she worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Getty Research Institute. Cooper is also an accomplished art critic who has contributed writing to “Artforum” ArtReview”, “Mousse”, and “Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (CARLA)”, among other publications.

Specializing in modern and contemporary art, Cooper’s curatorial practice is committed to queer, feminist, and anti-racist approaches to art historical thinking. She has focused particular attention to underrecognized artists. Cooper’s work with print collections, innovative museum programming, and large group shows, including the 2023 edition of the Hammer Museum’s “Made in L.A.” biennial, will strengthen and broaden the focus of the Art Center’s curatorial team.

Cooper has organized ten solo and group exhibitions in non-profit and gallery spaces in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Vienna. Recent writing projects include catalogue essays on Catherine Opie for the 2024 exhibition “Genre/Gender/Portraiture” at the Museum of Art in São Paulo (MASP) and on the groundbreaking feminist artist Renate Bertlmann for her 2023 retrospective “Fragile Obsessions” at Belvedere 21 in Vienna.

“Ashton’s experience and perspective will bring not only exciting new exhibitions but a new way of looking at our collections. We are thrilled to welcome her to the museum and our community,” said Senior Curator Laura Burkhalter who was instrumental in recruiting Cooper for the position.

Last month, Cooper, together with curator Pablo José Ramírez, was awarded a prestigious grant from the Teiger Foundation to support “Several Eternities in a Day.” The exhibition is the first major show to focus on brownness, spirituality, and contemporary art at the Hammer Museum. Cooper and Ramírez were among 50 curators selected by the Teiger Foundation to receive a total of $3.93 million in grant dollars.

“I am so excited to join the team at the Des Moines Art Center. I look forward to the opportunity to curate contemporary art within the context of the museum’s dynamic collections. I admire the Art Center’s emphasis on idea-driven shows and long-standing dedication to diversifying the collections and programming. I look forward to continuing my commitment to giving rigorous scholarly attention to underrecognized artists at the Art Center,” said Cooper.

For more information, contact Senior Director of Communications and Marketing Amy Day at 515-271-0344 or aday@desmoinesartcenter.org.