Join us for our first in-person Conversation with the Critics in 4 years! This dynamic discussion about art, culture, and community will be moderated by New York Academy of Art Senior Critic, Dexter Wimberly.
Danny Báez
Head of Arts at Kickstarter
A Dominican-born, NYC-based cultural producer and organizer. Director and founder of REGULARNORMAL gallery, one-half of the founding duo behind Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic’s premier art fair, MECA, co-founder and board member of ARTNOIR, a member of the Young Council of El Museo del Barrio, a Board Member of ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) and New Art Dealers Alliance. Danny is currently the Head of Arts at Kickstarter; he firmly believes in the power of building and practicing upon the community and has organized various exhibitions in New York since 2010.
Alexis Lowry
Curator, Dia Art Foundation, New York
Alexis Lowry is responsible for commissions, exhibitions, public programs, and the permanent collection across Dia’s sites and locations. As a curator and scholar with particular interests in Minimalism, Postminimalism, and Land art, Lowry has been instrumental in the stewardship of Dia’s sited artworks, and expanding the institution’s approach to and understanding of land-based practices.
Her recent exhibitions include presentations of Larry Bell, Mel Bochner, John Chamberlain, Mary Corse, Melvin Edwards, Dan Flavin, Charles Gaines, Barry Le Va, Robert Morris, Charlotte Posenenske, Dorothea Rockburne, Michelle Stuart, Anne Truitt, Lee Ufan, and Lawrence Weiner, as well as new commissions by Lucy Raven, Rita McBride, and Kishio Suga. While at Dia she has played a key role in significantly expanding the museum’s collection through considerations of gender, geography, race, and intergenerational exchange.
Prior to joining Dia, she was curator of the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University and a freelance project manager for Creative Time, New York. She publishes regularly on Modern and Contemporary art. Recent editorial projects include Charlotte Posenenske: Work in Progress and a forthcoming monograph on Delcy Morelos. In 2021, Lowry was the first invited curator-in-residence at the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Germany. She is on the board of directors of the Triple Aught Foundation and the Subcommittee for Public Art at Brown University. Lowry leaves Dia in October to join Hauser & Wirth as Curatorial Director.
Kimberli Gant
Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
Kimberli Gant is the Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She was previously the McKinnon Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA, and has also worked as the Mellon Doctoral Fellow at the Newark Museum, and Director of Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA).
She has curated numerous exhibitions and gallery reinstallations including the Brooklyn Museum’s iteration of A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, as well as Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence & the Mbari Club (2022), Journey’s Across the Border: U.S. & Mexico (2021-22), Tuan Andrew Nguyen: The Boat People (2021), Brendan Fernandes: Bodily Forms (2020), and John Akomfrah: Tropikos (2019). Gant received her PhD in Art History from the University of Texas Austin (2017), and holds both a MA and BA in Art History from Columbia University (2009) and Pitzer College (2002).
Gant has published scholarly work in academic books, such as Anywhere But Here: Black Intellectuals in the Atlantic World and Beyond (2015), art publications such as NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Art Lies and African Arts, and exhibition catalogues for The Newark Museum, The Contemporary Austin, the Studio Museum of Harlem, MoCADA, Paris Photo, and the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos.
Rasu Jilani
Executive Director, Brooklyn Arts Council
Rasu Jilani is an accomplished cultural strategist and social sculptor with a wealth of experience in curating, producing, arts administration, arts advocate, and recently appointed Executive Director of the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). As leader of BAC, Rasu leads efforts to support and empower local artists toward achieving the Council’s vision of generating a self-sustaining and integral creative community that fosters connectedness and engagement in society. Previously, Rasu leveraged his experience in supporting networks as the Cultural Network Curator at the Lambent Foundation. He designed programs that promoted shared learning and fostered collaboration through both live and digital experiences aligning Lambent’s values and approach with organizational practices.
Prior to Lambent, Rasu served as the Director of Recruiting and Community Engagement at NEW INC, the incubator of the New Museum. In this capacity, he managed mentorship and alumni initiatives, shaped organizational culture, and created a diverse pool of applicants from tech, art, and entrepreneurial sectors. He also served as the Director of Community Programs at MAPP International Productions, where he produced events such as Blink Your Eyes: Sekou Sundiata Revisited, Triple Consciousness: Black Feminism(s) in the Time of Now, and Days of Art and Ideas.
Mr. Jilani is deeply committed to the cultural ecosystem in New York City and volunteers his time as a mentor and creative coach for organizations such as Recess Art, NEW INC, and Florida International University’s Ratcliff Design Incubator. He also serves on the boards of organizations like The Laundromat Project, Kinfolk, Afrotectopia, and The Billie Holiday Theater in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He was a former steering committee member of New York Community Trust’s Mosaic Fund and Network, Museum Hue’s Board of Trustees, and co-founder and former member of the NYC Innovation Collective.
Dexter Wimberly is an American curator based in Japan who has organized exhibitions in galleries and institutions around the world including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City; The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco; The Green Family Art Foundation in Dallas; The Harvey B. Gantt Center in Charlotte; KOKI Arts in Tokyo, Japan; BODE in Berlin, Germany; and The Third Line in Dubai, UAE. His exhibitions have been reviewed and featured in publications including The New York Times and Artforum; and have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and The Kinkade Family Foundation. Wimberly is a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art, and the founder and director of the Hayama Artist Residency in Japan. He is also the co-founder and CEO of the online education platform, CreativeStudy.