Presented by Equity Bank
Now in its 30th year, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is ushering in a new decade with a new chief curator, Jessica S. Hong, at the end of this month.
Describing herself as both curator and cultural worker, Hong joins Kemper Museum from the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, where she was the senior curator of modern and contemporary art. “With its emphatic belief in the power and necessity of art and artists, I am thrilled to be joining the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art during a consequential time in the museum’s history,” says Hong. “I look forward to collaboratively shaping an expansive curatorial program that will lead the museum into its next dynamic chapter.”
Hong received her M.A. with distinction in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and B.A. in art history from Barnard College, Columbia University, graduating cum laude and with department honors.
“I came to this field accidentally,” she says. “After attending a high school that was socio-politically engaged, I arrived at Barnard with an interest in studying political science. To fulfill a requirement, I took an art history survey that altered my trajectory. I realized then that the arts entwine the social, the political, and the cultural—and have relevance and influence on our everyday lives.”
Throughout her career, Hong has focused on bridging seemingly disparate contexts to demonstrate the complex yet interconnected sociocultural fabric in which we are all part.
Prior to TMA, she was the associate curator of global contemporary art at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art and the first to fill this position on the occasion of the museum’s major expansion.
What does a curator do? How does a new exhibit take form? Does the idea come first or an artist or an opportunity to make a connection with another museum?
Curators organize exhibitions, work with artists, research, and/or build collections, but curatorial work is so much more than this output. It’s also not just work but a practice, as we work with artists to help them manifest their ideas and visions. Curators dream, quest, imagine, reimagine, unearth, engage, collaborate, and build to ultimately share.
An exhibition idea takes shape by a variety of means—from in-depth research in libraries and archives to conversations with artists, cultural producers and practitioners, scholars, colleagues, or community members. Regardless of where the idea comes from, the most generative exhibitions ask critical questions, spark conversations, pique interest, even surprise, with the hopes of inspiring and galvanizing the people who encounter them.
Did you have childhood experiences that led you to become a storyteller for art, especially giving expression to under-recognized narratives?
I grew up taking art classes and visiting museums, but I never imagined dedicating my life to it let alone ever feeling welcome in museums. As art museums are often neoclassical structures, even as a child, I felt the oppressive weight of specific histories being imposed on me that did not include how I, my family, loved ones, and ancestors understood or experienced the world. In college, I took an art history class to fulfill a graduation requirement that changed the course of my life. Here, I realized the arts provided another way to see and understand the world around us—where the social, cultural, and political coalesce, making it a necessity in our everyday lives. I also realized art’s prodigious power and how it has been used as a political tool, which compelled me to focus on bringing form to narratives and experiences this discipline has overlooked and erased.
You’ve lived and worked mainly on the East Coast and northern Ohio. Do you think you’re ready for barbecue and “nice-ness,” two things Kansas Citians hang their hats on? Is there a food you will seek out here?
If you’re implying that this niceness always comes with barbecue, count me in! Joking aside, even within certain geographical regions, including the Midwest, each place has its own distinct flavors and textures, so I look forward to exploring Kansas City and making this my new home.
As Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, what do you hope to bring to its future?
Kemper Museum has an incredible legacy of experimentation and openness, working with innovative artists and thinkers of our time. In this pivotal moment in the museum’s history, it’s an opportunity to expound upon this mission and integrate our programming into the lives of Kansas Citians and beyond. I hope we can celebrate this city and region while bridging seemingly distinct contexts to demonstrate the interconnected, yet complex, social and cultural fabric of which we are all part, no matter where we are.