AppointmentMay 8, 2023
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) appoints José Luis Blondet as Senior Curator
Blondet joins MOCA from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where he has served as Curator of Special Initiatives since 2015. He began his role at MOCA on May 1, 2023, working on exhibitions, acquisitions and collection development, and new initiatives.
At LACMA since 2010, Blondet has been behind many notable exhibitions, including Not I. Throwing Voices 1500 BCE – 2020 CE (2021), a sprawling transhistorical exhibition that brought together the museum’s encyclopedic collection under the lens of ventriloquism and A Universal History of Infamy, co-curated with Rita Gonzalez and Pilar Tompkins Rivas, for the Getty’s PST initiative (2017-18). More recently, Blondet co-organized with Rita Gonzalez the LACMA iteration of Afro-Atlantic Histories (2023), a touring exhibition that originated at Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil.
Blondet comes to MOCA with solid networks in Latin America, deep connections to the art scene in Los Angeles, and a background in education. He has been teaching as visiting faculty in the School of Theater at CalArts since 2014 and previously was a professor of literature at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. Before his time in Los Angeles, he managed the education programs at Dia: Beacon and was the Director of Education at the Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas. Currently, Blondet sits on the advisory board of the Center for New Performances at CalArts, as well as the acquisitions committee of Museo Tamayo. He graduated from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in 2003, thanks to the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection fellowship.
At LACMA since 2010, Blondet has been behind many notable exhibitions, including Not I. Throwing Voices 1500 BCE – 2020 CE (2021), a sprawling transhistorical exhibition that brought together the museum’s encyclopedic collection under the lens of ventriloquism and A Universal History of Infamy, co-curated with Rita Gonzalez and Pilar Tompkins Rivas, for the Getty’s PST initiative (2017-18). More recently, Blondet co-organized with Rita Gonzalez the LACMA iteration of Afro-Atlantic Histories (2023), a touring exhibition that originated at Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil.
Blondet comes to MOCA with solid networks in Latin America, deep connections to the art scene in Los Angeles, and a background in education. He has been teaching as visiting faculty in the School of Theater at CalArts since 2014 and previously was a professor of literature at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. Before his time in Los Angeles, he managed the education programs at Dia: Beacon and was the Director of Education at the Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas. Currently, Blondet sits on the advisory board of the Center for New Performances at CalArts, as well as the acquisitions committee of Museo Tamayo. He graduated from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in 2003, thanks to the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection fellowship.
