PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art welcomed Dan Byers as the new assistant curator of Contemporary Art.

“Our museum has always focused on finding the next great artists of tomorrow, and Dan will be instrumental in identifying meaningful works and engaging artists for the development of important exhibitions of contemporary art,” said Louise Lippincott, chief curator and acting co-director of Carnegie Museum of Art. “We are excited to have someone of Dan’s caliber working with us.”

Byers comes to Carnegie Museum of Art from Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where he was the 2008/2009 curatorial fellow in the department of Visual Arts. Prior to the Walker, Byers was assistant to the directors at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. He received his M.A. from Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies, where he organized the thesis exhibition (loverboy), sleep, shatter, handheld bird: Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Rodney Graham, Barry Le Va, and Charles Ray. Byers holds a B.S. in studio art from Skidmore College.

While at the Walker, Byers contributed texts to the catalog for the exhibition The Quick and the Dead, curated by Peter Eleey. He is currently collaborating with Walker associate curator Yasmil Raymond on the upcoming group exhibition and publication Abstract Resistance, opening at the Walker in February 2010. In addition to contributions to the reinstallation of the Walker’s permanent collection, Byers collaborated on the recent exhibition of artists’ books, Text Messages: Books by Artists.