MIAMI, FL.- With construction of the new and expanded Miami Art Museum (MAM) well underway, MAM Director Thomas Collins announces the appointment of Tobias Ostrander to chief curator, deputy director for curatorial affairs. Ostrander, a visual arts curator with nearly two decades of experience at some of the world’s top arts institutions, will develop and oversee MAM’s public, education and exhibition programs. He joins MAM after serving as the director of El Museo Experimental del ECO, an alternative contemporary art space run by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City. Prior, Ostrander served as the curator of contemporary art at Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City.

The appointment of Ostrander to MAM’s chief curatorial post comes as the Museum prepares for the move to its new, Herzog & de Meuron-designed facility in downtown Miami ’s Museum Park , scheduled to open to the public in 2013. The new MAM will be more than three times the size of its current facility, with 32,000 square feet of galleries, providing space for larger and more varied displays of the Museum’s rapidly growing permanent collection and special exhibitions. The announcement follows an international search led by MAM’s curatorial search committee.

“Beyond his rich expertise in the fields of contemporary and Latin American art, Tobias brings a fresh curatorial perspective and a healthy dose of enthusiasm to Miami ,” said Collins. “With construction of Miami’s first major modern contemporary art institution underway, it is now up to us to develop programs that live up to the ambition of the building itself. Tobias’ expertise will be a valuable asset as we work to make MAM an international model for progressive museum practice, in service to the entire community.”

Ostrander’s curatorial background is expansive. From 2001 to 2009, he served as the curator of contemporary art at Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City where he developed an extensive program of international artists. Prior to his work in Mexico City , he served as associate curator for inSITE 2000, a site-specific, bi-national art project for the regions of San Diego , CA , and Tijuana , Mexico . He also held curatorial positions at XXIV Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil and several institutions in New York , including El Museo del Barrio, Camilla’s, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Creative Time and the Museum of Modern Art .

Dennis Scholl, who serves as a MAM trustee, chair of the Museum’s curatorial search committee and vice president of arts for Knight Foundation, believes Ostrander’s background will be an ideal fit with MAM’s curatorial mission. “Our committee searched the globe for the right person to lead MAM’s programming team and shape the Museum’s curatorial direction. Tobias’ experience curating and designing exhibitions – coupled with his background in contemporary and Latin American art – proved to be the perfect match for MAM’s programmatic priorities and the uniquely diverse community the Museum represents.”

Ostrander attended the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson , NY , where he received a master’s degree in Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture. Prior, he attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick , Maine where he received a bachelor’s degree in Art History and Studio Art.