The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York announced today that Tanja Hwang is joining the lauded institution as a curator of modern design. Hwang will work in the Department of Architecture and Design alongside Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA.

“I am thrilled that Tanja Hwang is joining MoMA as the new curator for modern design,” Stierli said in a statement. “Tanja comes to us with a global perspective and a deep knowledge of the canonical history of modern design. With her background in organizing exhibitions at both the Vitra Design Museum and M+, she will be uniquely positioned to bring MoMA’s collection of modern design into a conversation with the present and to address issues such as diversity and the relationship of industrial design to craft that are key to the field today.”

Previously, Hwang was an associate curator of design and architecture at M+ in Hong Kong. Since 2021, Hwang has conceptualized and co-curated interdisciplinary art and design exhibitions there including Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China. Prior to M+, Hwang was a curator at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, where Hwang co-directed  Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 – Today.

“MoMA has been instrumental in shaping the discourse on modern design since its founding and I am honored to be joining an outstanding curatorial team entrusted with one of the most important collections of art and design in the world,” Hwang said. “I look forward to strengthening and expanding transnational connections within the museum’s holdings and fostering an understanding of the global history of modern design and its impact on our societies today.”

Hwang received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Media Studies from the University of Basel in 2007; and her Masters in Art History in a Global Context at the Freie Universität Berlin in 2023.