COLUMBUS, OH.- After an extensive national search, the Columbus Museum of Art has announced the appointment of Tyler Cann as the Museum’s new Associate Curator of Contemporary Art.

“Tyler brings a fresh eye to CMA’s permanent collection along with solid scholarship and a broad international outlook,” said Nannette V. Maciejunes, CMA Executive Director. “He joins us at a particularly exciting moment in the Museum’s history. Our upcoming expansion promises the first permanent galleries devoted to our late 20th Century and contemporary collection in the Museum’s new wing.”

“I’m thrilled to join CMA at such a critical moment for the institution.” Cann said. “The opportunity to help shape its collection and ambitious programming is fantastic. Columbus itself has such a vibrant, forward-looking culture as well, and I look forward to being part of that.”

Born in Los Angeles, Cann completed his undergraduate studies art history at the University of California, Berkeley and continued as a PhD candidate in the department of History of Art + Architecture at Harvard University.

Cann most recently held the position of curator at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, UK, where he worked with artists such as Bedwyr Williams, Boyd & Evans, Sarah Browne, Stuart Whipps and Gillian Wearing. Prior to Ikon, Cann was a curator at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Zealand, where he developed numerous research-based exhibitions on the artist and experimental filmmaker Len Lye. These include Chronosome, The Cosmic Archive, All Souls Carnival, and, with Mercedes Vicente, Points of Contact: Jim Allen, Len Lye and Hélio Oiticica. At the Govett-Brewster, Cann also showed the work of artists Phil Dadson, Tessa Laird, Dane Mitchell, Andy Thomson and Daniel von Sturmer.

As the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Cann will be responsible for the growth of CMA’s contemporary art program, including acquisitions, exhibitions, publications, and programs. He will also work closely with The Contemporaries, a membership group that supports the awareness, appreciation, and acquisition of contemporary art and photography in our community and annually purchases a work of art for CMA’s permanent collection.