The Serpentine Galleries Appoints Bettina Korek, Head of Frieze Los Angeles, as Its New CEO

Just in time for its 50th
anniversary, the Serpentine Galleries in London has named Bettina Korek as its new
chief executive. Korek is currently the executive director of
Frieze Los Angeles.

Korek succeeds former Serpentine
CEO Yana Peel, who resigned from
her post in June following criticism over her and her husband’s
alleged ties to a cyberweapons company. Korek will begin in March
2020, following the second edition of Frieze in
February.

“This is the only opportunity
that could inspire me to leave Los Angeles,” Korek said in a
statement. “Some of the most compelling qualities of LA
as a city are embodied by the Serpentine as an institution:
intrepid innovation, fluidity across disciplines, an irrepressible
preoccupation with the future.”

A Princeton graduate, Korek
worked in the prints and drawings department of the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art before moving on to found ForYourArt, a mercurial LA-based art production company,
in 2006. With ForYourArt, she helped organize the participating
gallery program for the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time in 2012 and
in 2017, and served as president of the Los Angeles County Arts
Commission from 2016-17. 

In a statement, Serpentine
artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist praised Korek’s “visionary
understanding of art and its contexts” and her “incredible track
record in supporting artists and their communities.

“Bettina’s excellent track
record in arts management, audience engagement, and innovative
partnerships will ensure that the Serpentine builds on its legacy
and continues to embrace the opportunities for a sustainable
future,” adds Serpentine vice-chair Barry Townsley.

Though its new CEO doesn’t start
for months, the Serpentine may be eager to turn the page after the
messy departure of its former leader. 

After a 15-year involvement with
the Serpentine, including three years as CEO, Peel tendered her
resignation in June. The announcement followed a flurry of media
reports and public protests alleging her connection to the Israeli
cyberweapons firm NSO Group. Peel maintained that the connection
was overblown, explaining that the private equity firm she co-founded with her
husband, Stephen Peel, supported a management buyout of
NSO Group, and that the couple had
no stake in the company.

“The work of the Serpentine—and
its incomparable artistic director—cannot be allowed to be
undermined by misguided personal attacks on me and my family,” she
wrote in a statement at the time, characterizing the allegations as
“inaccurate media reports now subject to legal
complaints.”

Next year marks the golden
anniversary of the Serpentine, which was founded in the London
district of Kensington in 1970. A second location, the Serpentine
Sackler Gallery, opened near the original in 2013.

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Head of Frieze Los Angeles, as Its New CEO appeared first on
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