Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has taken a major step toward its December 11 debut by appointing Valerie Hillings as its inaugural director. The choice brings a familiar leader to one of the region's most anticipated cultural openings.
Hillings previously spent five years at the Guggenheim in New York before joining the Abu Dhabi project in 2008 as curator and associate director of curatorial affairs. From there, she helped shape the museum's collecting vision with a focus on art from West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia created from 1960 onward.
In a statement, Hillings said she was honored to return to Abu Dhabi and help complete the journey of opening the museum. She added that she looks forward to welcoming local and international audiences to the Frank Gehry-designed building and highlighting shared perspectives through art.
Her appointment follows an eight-year run as director of the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, where annual attendance reached 1.2 million. During that period, she also led a major reinstallation of the permanent collection and expanded the museum's holdings by about 400 works, including its first Pablo Picasso painting.
Hillings holds a doctorate in art history from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts and earned her undergraduate degree from Duke University. She also curated the Guggenheim New York exhibition "Zero: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s" in 2014.
Set within Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Cultural District, the new museum will become the largest branch in the Guggenheim network, with 30 galleries and expansive indoor and outdoor exhibition areas. As the opening approaches, the project is positioned to strengthen Abu Dhabi's role as a global cultural destination and shape how future audiences experience contemporary art.
