Abaseh mirvali biography

Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara Names Abaseh Mirvali Executive Director and Chief Curator

The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara in California has tapped Abaseh Mirvali to be its new executive director and chief curator, effective immediately. She takes the reins at the MCA as it prepares to launch an expansion in the city’s Funk Zone district.

Mirvali has worked primarily as an independent curator. From 2005 to 2008, she was the executive director of the Colección/Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City, and she was the executive director and CEO of the 2013 edition of the Biennial of the Americas, which was staged in Denver. She was also previously senior adviser to the U.S. Ambassador for Culture and Education.

The position she fills at the MCA has been vacant for almost a year. It was previously held by Miki Garcia, who left the MCA in December of last year to direct the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe. Garcia had been the MCA’s director since 2005.

In a statement, Mirvali said, “I have met

Abaseh Mirvali

Abaseh Mirvali is an Art and Architecture Curator and Project Producer with a career-long commitment to civic engagement and public service through innovative collaborations between contemporary art initiatives and the community at large. Between 2018 and 2020, Mirvali was the Executive Director, Chief Curator, and CEO at Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB), in California, USA, where she presented the first solo U.S. West Coast exhibition of Turin-based artist, Lara Favaretto; the U.S. West Coast solo museum debut exhibition of American filmmaker and artist, James Benning; the first solo institutional exhibition of LA-based artist Brian Rochefort; the U.S. institutional debut of Berlin-based artist and composer Ari Benjamin Meyers and his institution Kunsthalle for Music; a solo exhibition by New York-based artist N. Dash; and the upcoming exhibition of LA-based artist Genevieve Gaignard; having curated 5 of the exhibitions.

In 2018, Mirvali curated the exhibition of Dubai-based Iranian artists Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian, pre

Abaseh Mirvali to Head MCASB

With the appointment of Abaseh Mirvali as chief executive officer, head curator, and executive director, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara has taken a major step toward realizing its plans to build a new museum in the Funk Zone. Mirvali comes to Santa Barbara with an international reputation for innovative curatorial projects and extensive experience in fundraising for and running large institutions. Although she has focused on independent curation over the past decade, Mirvali was the CEO, executive director, and comisaria of the Biennial of the Americas in Denver in 2013 and served as the executive director of the Colección Jumex and the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City from 2005 to 2008.

A quick scan of Mirvali’s curatorial activities in 2018 reveals what kind of exciting programing is in store for Santa Barbara due to this high-profile appointment. In September, Mirvali organized an exhibit called Solo Expanded as part of viennacontemporary, Austria’s top international art fair. Later that same month, she travel

Copyright ©boottry.pages.dev 2025