The Chief Curator: José Carlos Diaz
“The art world is very mysterious and patrons, at all levels, will want more transparency.”
5 Questions with José Carlos Diaz
Chief Curator of Art at The Andy Warhol Museum
Pittsburgh, PA
José Carlos Diaz is the Chief Curator at The Andy Warhol Museum and was a 2018 fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL). At The Warhol he has curated Farhad Moshiri: Go West and Andy Warhol: Revelation. Diaz is currently organizing Femme Touch, an exhibition about dynamic women in Warhol’s periphery. Prior to this Diaz was the Curator of Exhibitions at The Bass in Miami Beach where he curated commissions by Athi-Patra Ruga, Sylvie Fleury, the exhibition GOLD, and organized One Way: Peter Marino. Diaz has worked at Tate Liverpool and at the Liverpool Biennal. Diaz received a MA in Cultural History from the University of Liverpool, and a BA in Art History from San Francisco State University. Diaz serves on the Board of Trustees for the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) and chaired the Curatorial Leadership Summit at The Armory Show in New York in 2020. Images of José’s exhibitions follow this interview.
1. What are you immediate priorities as you lead the museum’s curatorial team through this moment?
For me a priority is bringing back our staff back into the museum, in a safe and organized manner, once we are permitted to do so. Preparation for re-opening our doors to the public is something I am looking forward to, but there are still many unanswerable questions. Part of the curatorial team is offering input and guidance because we will need to adjust the way we interact with guests, present exhibitions and the permanent collection, as well as hosting public programs and performances in the future.
2. With galleries and museums closed, and barely any artist studio visits taking place (except virtually), talk to me about how your curatorial practice has changed and adapted as a result of the lockdown.
At The Warhol, the curatorial team and I work on a good balance between Andy Warhol related projects and with, please pardon the phrase, living artists! For Andy Warhol shows our planning, writing and research continues from home. However, I am currently working with half a dozen contemporary artists and I have had to become nimble in order to reschedule their exhibitions and check-in on them. Everyone is making the best of this crisis so it is important for me to continue communicating with them and make sure they are doing ok under these stressful times.
This is also a moment of pause for myself. For example, I have a long list of artists I’ve been watching and would love to work with, so this has become a great time to revisit their work online and see what they are up to at the moment.
3. Museums typically plan out their exhibitions quite far in advance. With perhaps many months before re-opening, and so many unknowns right now, how are you approaching exhibition planning?
I’ve been fortunate to plan exhibitions well in advance so shifting these dates has been easier for me than some of my other peers at other museums across the USA. Femme Touch, our next exhibition, was supposed to open last week. It is a show made-up mostly from works in our collection so it was easy to put the installation at a halt. However, I have a couple exhibitions touring so that is a bit more complicated and has taken up extra attention because you are dealing with other institutions, other countries, outside vendors, shipping and so forth. For the time being I’m not looking to add more shows or projects to the calendar until we can get back in motion and financially stable.
4. We are seeing all programming go virtual. The task now is to convert these “quarantine audiences” into long-term supporters of the arts. How should the sector be framing programming to best accomplish this task?
Once museums locked their doors there was a scramble to use digital platforms to reach audiences. I think our patrons and community appreciate the efforts especially because most are free of cost. Moving forward I think we will need to continue offering meaningful programs, online and at the museum, with reduced fees or free. Our own museum launched Warhol at Home, initially it shared existing content, however, the team has been able to quickly create wonderful new online offerings and we have additional public programs coming soon. I am also working on a virtual “studio visit” with a Pittsburgh-based artist for our upper-level patrons in lieu of ones that happen inside the artist’s real working space.
5. How do you think this crisis might change the landscape of cultural patronage, and society’s view of the arts as a whole?
I think we, art museums, will have some tough years ahead of us. The arts are still vital and I believe that society will continue to support artists and cultural institutions like The Warhol, but funders will want to really understand the changes that took place during this crisis.
Sadly, many furloughs took place across museums, including ours, and those positions represented some of the most diverse areas of the museum. For me, I think it will be important to review our mission, our finances, our staff, output, and of course, our Pittsburgh-based audiences. The art world is very mysterious and patrons, at all levels, will want more transparency.
José Carlos Diaz is the Chief Curator at The Andy Warhol Museum and was a 2018 fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL). At The Warhol he has curated Farhad Moshiri: Go West and Andy Warhol: Revelation. Diaz is currently organizing Femme Touch, an exhibition about dynamic women in Warhol’s periphery.Prior to this Diaz was the Curator of Exhibitions at The Bass in Miami Beach where he curated commissions by Athi-Patra Ruga, Sylvie Fleury, the exhibition GOLD, and organized One Way: Peter Marino. Diaz has worked at Tate Liverpool and at the Liverpool Biennal.
Diaz received a MA in Cultural History from the University of Liverpool, and a BA in Art History from San Francisco State University. Diaz serves on the Board of Trustees for the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) and chaired the Curatorial Leadership Summit at The Armory Show in New York in 2020.
(Photo by Abby Warhola)
Farhad Moshiri: Go West
Photo by Abby Warhola
Farhad Moshiri: Go West
Photo by Abby Warhola
Farhad Moshiri: Go West
Photo by Abby Warhola
Andy Warhol: Revelation
Photo by Abby Warhola
Andy Warhol: Revelation
Photo by Abby Warhola
Andy Warhol: Revelation
Photo by Abby Warhola