Glenn D. Lowry

Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Museums, Galleries and Libraries (2010-2011)

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Museums, Galleries and Libraries is a unique initiative at the University of Oxford dedicated to examining the crucial role that cultural institutions play in society. Ambitious in its scope, the initiative holds Visiting Professorships that bring individuals of outstanding practical and academic expertise to the University Oxford, which is home to some of the oldest and most important museums, libraries and collections in the Western world.

The initiative enjoys a special relationship with the Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Contemporary Art, often overlapping to provide a dynamic forum for exchange about arts and culture.

The Visiting Professorship in Museums, Galleries and Libraries has been made possible by the generous support of Foster + Partners and is hosted by Balliol College, Oxford.

Glenn D. Lowry is Director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, was appointed as the first Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Museums, Galleries and Libraries. A strong advocate of contemporary art, he conceived and initiated MOMA’s successful merger with PS1 Contemporary Art Center in 1999. He has lectured and written extensively in support of contemporary art and artists and the role of museums in society, among other topics.

In his first lecture, he speaks on ‘The abodes of the muses: theorising the modern art museum’. In his final symposium on ‘The museum and the artist’Lowry is joined by photographer Thomas Struth , Neil MacGregor, Director of The British Museum  and Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain to discuss the relationship between artists and the institutions which house their work.