NEW YORK, NY.- The Whitney Museum of American Art has appointed Nolan Jimbo as Arnhold Associate Curator. In this role, Jimbo will organize exhibitions, produce publications and public programs, contribute to the growth and interpretation of the Museum’s collection, and collaborate with artists and colleagues across the institution. His appointment reflects the Whitney’s ongoing commitment to championing artists and expanding narratives of American art through exhibitions, collections, scholarship, and public engagement. Jimbo’s first day at the Whitney is November 16.
“Nolan is a star among a new generation of curators with fresh perspectives on art both past and present. He brings to the Whitney a range of experience from museums across the country, along with keen intellectual rigor and a deep commitment to artists,” said Scott Rothkopf, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. “His work moves fluidly between exhibitions, performance, and scholarship, and his expertise in Asian diasporic artists will add to new narratives in American art. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Whitney and look forward to the contributions he will make to our collection and program.”
Jimbo joins the Whitney from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), where he served as Assistant Curator and organized exhibitions, performances, and interdisciplinary projects with a focus on Asian diasporic artists and abstraction. Over five years at the MCA, Jimbo organized solo, group, and collection-based exhibitions, including Kenzi Shiokava (2026), the artist’s first solo museum survey, accompanied by his first monograph; Chicago Works | Mike Cloud: Worldless Obstruction (2026); Endless (2023); Interiors (2022); and Chicago Works: Gregory Bae (2022). He also served on the curatorial teams for the major group exhibitions Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetn (2026) and Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today (2022), both organized by Carla Acevedo-Yates. His curatorial practice extended beyond the galleries to performance and experimental programming, including projects featuring artists Kioto Aoki, Kik Hibino, David Lamelas, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Devin T. Mays, Will Rawls, and Wu Tsang.
Jimbo also worked extensively with the MCA’s collection as co-director of the MCA DNA Research Initiative, a multiyear program supported by the CHANEL Culture Fund that commissioned interdisciplinary scholarship, digital content, and public programs focused on the museum’s collection and archives.
“I am deeply honored to join the curatorial team at the Whitney, an institution that I have long admired for its extraordinary history of supporting artists, presenting paradigm-shifting shows, and tapping into the cultural zeitgeist of the United States," said Jimbo. "I look forward to building upon this legacy while advocating for emerging and overlooked artistic practices, particularly at this moment when the museum is attracting ever younger and more diverse audiences. Relationships are at the heart of this work and I am very excited to collaborate closely with artists as well as the Whitney's vibrant community of colleagues and supporters."
Previously, Jimbo held curatorial positions at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), where he organized Close to You (2021), a group exhibition focused on kinship, and the Dallas Museum of Art, where he produced the mural commission Nicolas Party: Pathway (2016). His writing has appeared in numerous exhibition catalogues and publications, including Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing (2024), for which he contributed texts on several participating artists.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jimbo holds an M.A. from the Williams Graduate Program in the History of Art and a B.A. in Art History and French from Tufts University.
