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Van on Van: Guggenheim Curator to Lead Van Alen Institute

Van on Van: Guggenheim Curator to Lead Van Alen Institute

David van der Leer, an associate curator of architecture and urban studies at the Guggenheim, has been appointed executive director of New York’s Van Alen Institute. He will take over in May. The Institute, which has existed for more than 100 years in various forms, is dedicated to improving the public realm through exhibitions, competitions, and programming initiatives in New York and beyond. Reached by email, van der Leer declined to elaborate on his plans for the Institute.

Van der Leer, 33, has been at the Guggenheim since 2008. He helped curate the landmark exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward and Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum. He was also active outside the walls of the museum, initiating stillspotting nyc, a series of site specific events and installations across the five boroughs, as well as the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a traveling pavilion that serves as a forum to investigate the future of cities. Prior to the Guggenheim, van der Leer worked in the publications departments at Steven Holl Architects, OMA, as well as 010 publishers, as well as a contributor to AN and other design publications.

The Van Alen Institute is named for William Van Alen, the architect of the Chrysler Building, and one of the organization’s biggest benefactors.


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