Parrish Art Museum Announces New Associate Curator

Southampton - The Parrish Art Museum has announced the appointment of Andrea Grover as Associate Curator. A native of Long Island, Grover will begin her position in January 2011.

Holding more than 10 years of experience in media arts curating, Grover is well known for her innovative media arts exhibitions and pop-up cinema events produced as founder of the nonprofit cinema, Auora Picture Show, in Houston, TX.

In her new role at the Parrish Art Museum, Grover will initiate a series of associative public programs designed to stimulate a new kind of engagement with the museum. She will work extensively with Cara Conklin-Wingfield, Deputy Director, Education, Alicia Longwell, Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator, Art and Education, and Mark Segal, Director of Adult Programs, to integrate curation, education, and local culture via workshops, readings, performances, and screenings.

A major focus of her work will be to translate the Museum's East End Stories online database into live events that will further illuminate the history and status of the region as an art colony.

"We are enormously pleased to welcome Andrea to the Parrish curatorial team," Parrish Director Terrie Sultan said. "Andrea brings a depth and breadth of creative thinking, and a wealth of ideas on how to fully integrate special exhibitions, our East End Stories digital archive, and our world-class permanent collection within the context of a broader cultural engagement. She will make a wonderful addition to the Museum's team."

"As a native of Long Island, I have long admired the Parrish and am delighted to be returning to the region to serve this historic institution. It is particularly auspicious to be joining the creative staff at a moment of transformation, during the construction of the new building," Grover said.

In addition to bringing extensive experience in media arts curating to the Parrish, Grover has extensive experience working at the intersection of art, technology, and social practice. She curated the first exhibition exploring the phenomenon of crowdsourcing in art (Phantom Captain, apexart, New York, 2006), and, with artist Jon Rubin, organized an exhibit in which worldwide participants created a photo-sharing album of their imaginings on Tehran ("Never Been to Tehran," Parkingallery, Tehran, Iran, 2008).

She has programmed an evening of films for Dia Art Foundation at The Hispanic Society of America, New York ("Lessons in the Sky," 2009), and inaugurated a new semiannual screening series, "From the Menil Film Archive, with The Menil Collection." In 2009 she curated an exhibition that continued her research into cooperation and distributed thinking across disciplines ("29 Chains to the Moon," Carnegie Mellon University, Miller Gallery). She has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BFA from Syracuse University and was a Core Fellow in residence at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Grover is presently a Warhol Curatorial Fellow with the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.