New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art has appointed Meg Onli as Curator-at-Large, a position that hasn’t been filled at the museum in nearly 15 years.
In this role, Onli will curate exhibitions, propose acquisitions, and serve as an ambassador and advisor on special projects. Currently co-curating the 2024 Whitney Biennial, she is also co-curating the Whitney’s upcoming 2026 Roy Lichtenstein retrospective—the first in more than thirty years in New York—with artist Alex Da Corte and incoming director Scott Rothkopf.
“I have always admired the Whitney’s long-standing history of field-defining exhibitions and support for emergent artist practices. I am very excited to be part of the life of the Whitney and to collaborate and explore with the incredible team here. I am also so appreciative of the flexibility of the role, which affords me the opportunity to focus on the creative and bring new ideas and perspectives to the Museum.”
– Onli said in a statement.
Before the Whitney Museum, Onli was previously at the Underground Museum in Los Angeles as director and curator after her associate curator role at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia.
“It is humbling to represent my hometown of Los Angeles, and its leading art scene. I look forward to being an ambassador and building bridges between emerging and overlooked voices in the art world and the Whitney.”
– Onli says.
Onli comes to the Whitney having curated such acclaimed exhibitions as “Colored People Time: Mundane Features, Quotidian Pasts, Banal Presents” (2019) and “Jessica Vaughn: Our Primary Focus Is To Be Successful” (2021), both at the ICA Philadelphia and co-curated “Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation” (2022) at the Hammer Museum.
“Meg is that rare innovative thinker who glimpses the future while respecting the past. I’ve already been dazzled by Meg’s thinking on the Biennial and know she has even more to contribute as the Whitney’s first Curator-at-Large in over a decade.”
– Scott Rothkopf, the incoming director of the Whitney, says in a statement.
