Dia's new new director announced

The NY Times is reporting that Philippe Vergne will be leaving his position as deputy director of the Walker Art Center to become  the Dia Foundation's new director beginning in Mid September.  Here's a link to Carol Vogel's story.

Here's a release sent out by Dia earlier this evening:

We are pleased to report that Dia's board has appointed Philippe Vergne, deputy director and chief curator of the Walker Art Center, as Dia's next director.  He will begin on September 15, 2008.  

Mr. Vergne brings to Dia his distinguished experience in the field of contemporary art.  He joined the Walker in 1997 and has since organized more than twenty-five international exhibitions, inlcuding How Latitudes Becom Forms: Art in a Global Age, Let's Entertain, Herzog & de Meuron: In Process, and the first retrospective of the work of Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping (2005) and Kara Walker (2007).  In 2006 he co-curated the Whitney Biennial with Chrissie Iles.

During his tenure at the Walker, Mr. Vergne brought significant works to the collection by artists including Doug Aitken, Daniel Buren, Tony Conrad, Dan Graham, Rineke Dijstra, Sheela Gowda, David Hammons, Thomas Hirschhorn, Mr. Huang, Pierre Huyghe, Cameron Jamie, Mike Kelley, Yves Klein, Luc Tuymans, Philippe Parreno, and Ms. Walker, among others.  He is also a frequent lecturer, and has contributed essays and articles to numerous books, catalogues, and major art magazines.

There will be an article about Mr. Vergne's appointment in the arts section of tomorrow's New York Times, and additional information will be available on Dia's website (www.diaart.org).