Eungie Joo, the curator and head of contemporary art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), was fired from her position on Tuesday (17 December) for allegedly violating the museum’s policies governing workplace conduct.
News of her firing was first reported by The San Francisco Standard. The museum has not publicly shared any information about the nature of Joo’s alleged infraction. In a statement to The Art Newspaper, a spokesperson for the museum said: “In accordance with institutional policy on workplace conduct, Eungie Joo was separated from SFMoMA on December 17. We do not comment on the specifics of personnel matters.” Joo has not responded to The Art Newspaper’s inquiry about her dismissal.
The curator’s most recent project at SFMoMA was an ambitious new project by the US artist Kara Walker, Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine), which is on long-term view (until spring 2026) in one the museum’s admission-free ground-floor galleries. The installation, which features an ensemble of animatronic and interactive sculptures, draws on touchstones like Octavia Butler’s science-fiction novel Parable of the Sower (1993) and, like so much of Walker’s work, addresses the traumas of America’s violent history. In 2019-20 Joo curated the thematic exhibition SOFT POWER, which featured works by 20 artists seizing on art’s capacity to reflect and influence social forces.
Joo was hired by SFMoMA in 2017, becoming the first person to hold the position of curator of contemporary art at the institution. Immediately prior to her hiring, she had served as the lead curator of two high-profile international exhibitions: the 2016 edition of Anyang Public Art Project in Korea and the 2015 edition of the Sharjah Biennial. She was also the commissioner of the Korean Pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale.
Joo came to the SFMoMA role with extensive institutional experience, having served as the director and curator of education and public programmes at the New Museum in New York from 2007 to 2012, and as the director of art and cultural programmes at Instituto Inhotim in Brazil from 2012 to 2014. She received her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley and, in 2006, won the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement, a prize conferred by the Menil Foundation.
Joo’s firing comes after several significant changes at SFMoMA in recent years. In 2020 its chief curator of painting and sculpture, Gary Garrels, resigned after making comments that some staff regarded as racist. The following year, amid budgetary cuts due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the museum did away with its film programme, publishing platform and other initiatives. And last year the museum eliminated 20 positions amid persistently low attendance and revenue following the pandemic. Also during this period, the museum raised its general admission fee to $30 and hired Christopher Bedford as its new director, succeeding Neal Benezra.
