Massimiliano Gioni, long-serving Edlis Neeson artistic director at the New Museum, has been tapped to run the whole show. He will step into the director’s role on August 1, 2026, taking over day-to-day leadership just months after the Bowery institution unveiled an expanded building. His appointment follows the departure of longtime director Lisa Phillips, who stepped down in the spring.
According to The New York Times, the museum announced the hire on July 7 after an eight-month international search. Trustees interviewed candidates from around the globe before landing on Gioni, and board leaders told the Times they were looking for “somebody who thinks globally.”
Gioni joined the New Museum’s curatorial team in 2006 and was elevated to Edlis Neeson artistic director in 2014, a role in which the museum lists him as overseeing the exhibitions program. The New Museum’s archive credits him with major exhibitions and large-scale projects that have helped shape the institution’s international profile.
Expanded Building, Bigger Ambitions
The New Museum reopened its expanded Bowery campus in March 2026, nearly doubling its gallery space and debuting a building-wide exhibition curated by Gioni. The Guardian detailed both the architectural overhaul and the scope of the programming, while local reporting zoomed in on new public commissions that now line the museum’s frontage. Giant Bowery Hug captured one of those new facade works, giving a street-level sense of how the expansion reshapes the museum’s presence on the Bowery.
Board Picks Continuity
Trustees described an extensive, eight-month search that cast a wide international net before they settled on Gioni as director, according to The New York Times. Opting for a leader who already steers the museum’s exhibition agenda reads as a bet on continuity at a moment when the institution is working to lock in its expanded programmatic footprint.
During the search, Regan Grusy served as acting director, and the museum continued to roll out partnerships and program initiatives while leadership was in flux. In a recent announcement about a global collaboration, the New Museum credited Grusy in the acting role, underscoring her interim stewardship during the transition, according to ArtDaily.
Gioni’s promotion is widely expected to be read as both a nod to stability and an opportunity to sharpen the New Museum’s international curatorial reach as it fills out its enlarged galleries. With an already packed exhibition calendar, the coming months will reveal how the incoming director balances globally scaled projects with the museum’s downtown, public-facing mission.
