/Secession presents new curator Damian Lentini

Dr. Damian Lentini is a curator whose research and work unpacks the imbricated histories of modern and contemporary art from the postwar period up until our present moment. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Melbourne in 2009 and has since worked on various projects in Australia, Germany and now Austria. Prior to moving to Vienna, Lentini was a curator at Munich’s Haus der Kunst (2015–2023), where he worked closely with Okwui Enwezor, Ulrich Wilmes and Katy Siegel on the landmark exhibition project Postwar: Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945–1965 (2016). More recently, Lentini has realized major projects with artists such as El Anatsui, Phyllida Barlow, Kapwani Kiwanga, Sarah Sze, Sung Tieu, Raqs Media Collective, Harun Farocki, Dumb Type, Khvay Samnang, Lina Lapelytė, and the Karrabing Film Collective.

Statement board of the Secession
We are delighted to welcome our new curator Damian Lentini to the team.

Statement Damian Lentini
I am so humbled to be joining the team here at the Vienna Secession, a preeminent global institution for contemporary art. Easily the greatest part of curating exhibitions is the opportunity to collaborate directly with artists on new projects and commissions, and the programme crafted by the board of the Secession has rightly earned the reputation over the years of nurturing a space in which the work of “artists’ artists” can be shown in their best light. Across eight years at Haus der Kunst, I had the incomparable honour of working closely with—and learning from—the great Okwui Enwezor, as well as from a team of visionary and dedicated curators such as Ulrich Wilmes, Anna Schneider, Jana Baumann and, most recently, Emma Enderby, in addition to so many other amazing people. And I cannot wait to draw upon this knowledge in my future projects here in Vienna, one of Europe’s most exciting cities for contemporary art and ideas.