{"id":684312,"date":"2026-06-04T17:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684312\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T17:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:39:09","slug":"the-bass-names-artistic-director-amid-miami-beach-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684312\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bass names artistic director amid Miami Beach expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bass is reshaping its leadership structure as the Miami Beach museum adds a new position aimed at strengthening its artistic direction and exhibition program.<\/p>\n

Philippe Vergne, the former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Dia Art Foundation in New York, has been named to the newly created position of Artistic Director and Chief Curator and will work alongside Executive Director Silvia Karman Cubi\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been at this museum for 18 years,\u201d said Cubi\u00f1a. \u201cIt\u2019s time to bring in some fresh, breezy, new vision and conversations. That\u2019s really important. It\u2019s a responsible thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Philippe Philippe Vergne, newly appointed Artistic Director and Chief Curator of The Bass. (Photo by Joaquim Norte de Sousa) <\/p>\n

In his new role, Vergne will serve as her \u201cthought partner,\u201d said Cubi\u00f1a, with responsibility for the museum\u2019s curatorial vision as it adds 2,500 square feet of exhibition spaces to the current 15,519.<\/p>\n

After Curator James Voorhies left the museum in December to return to his home in New York, Cubi\u00f1a reached out to Vergne, a long-time colleague who is currently director of the Serralves Contemporary Art Museum in Porto, Portugal. The conversation was unexpected, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when I talked to Silvia, when I met some of the members of her board, I was very impressed by the ambition that her constituency has for the institution. I was impressed by the way the board of the museum has supported the museum\u2026 I was very excited by what I was hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Executive Executive Director Silvia Karman Cubi\u00f1a has led The Bass since 2008. (Photo by Nick Garcia, courtesy of The Bass) <\/p>\n

And the timing was right. He had been in his current job since 2019. The Bass\u2019s planned expansion was also enticing. \u201cThis is a very specific moment, to expand in a city which is itself expanding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He will begin his new role Oct. 1.<\/p>\n

The museum is working with the city to permit the expansion designed by Los Angeles-based architects Johnston Marklee and supported by a $20.1 million allocation from a 2022 public bond. The addition will solidify The Bass\u2019s vision of a 2.9-acre campus of public art works and sheltered garden space anchored by the museum\u2019s original 1930s fa\u00e7ade designed by Miami architect Russell Pancoast. It will be museum\u2019s third expansion since 2000.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, The Bass opened the renovated Rotunda in Collins Park, with an inviting glass entry and almost 2,000 square feet of exhibition space. Since then, attendance has grown by 33.8%, said Cubi\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

The new outdoor space is intended to broaden free access to art and better serve a mixed-income community of time-pressed young professionals and families with free programming that includes the museum\u2019s Third Thursdays activations and access to the Rotunda.<\/p>\n

Exhibitions and public programming will be part of Vergne\u2019s portfolio. He will also work with global artists to expand The Bass\u2019s ongoing program of commissions. In past years, those have included installations by marquee artists such as Mickalene Thomas, Rachel Feinstein and Tavaras Strachan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very privileged to work in different communities in the United States and in Europe, so I have a network of artists,\u201d said Vergne. \u201cBut not only artists; I have a network in the art community that will make available to the institution. It\u2019s work that goes beyond pure curating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The The Bass Museum of Arts\u2019 Rotunda in Collins Park opened in March 2026. (Photo by Zaire Aranguren \/Rheo Creative, courtesy of The Bass) <\/p>\n

French-born Vergne began his museum leadership career as director of the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Contemporain in Marseille from 1994 to 1997 before moving to the United States. He later served as chief curator and deputy director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York and director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In 2006, he co-curated the Whitney Biennial with Chrissie Iles. He left LA MOCA in 2019 following a tumultuous year marked by internal and external dissent and was named director of Portugal\u2019s Serralves Contemporary Art Museum a few months later.<\/p>\n

Vergne\u2019s experience running art institutions make him a strong fit for the role, said Cubi\u00f1a. \u201cHe will be a great thought partner, but also a very practical thought partner, which is very important. He knows what it is to run an institution. He knows what it is to build an institution, and he understands timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those skills along with Vergne\u2019s art world connections will help free Cubi\u00f1a to focus on the other aspects of her job, she said. \u201cI need to fundraise. I need to do my job right, and my job is dealing with the future, both the immediate and the long-term future of this museum. I get to do it full time now.\u201d<\/p>\n

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don\u2019t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bass is reshaping its leadership structure as the Miami Beach museum adds a new position aimed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-684312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}