Presentation by Victoria Noorthoorn, Director, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires and the Museum Studies Program’s 2026 Visiting Scholar

UM Museum of Art – Helmut Stern Auditorium

How does art lead the way in creating our possible futures? How do the human imagination and the agency and actions of art free the potential for wonder, for hope, optimism and joy, to confront times of agony, trauma and fear? In what ways do artists of all disciplines from around the world dare still to dream of different, alternative futures for humanity, to envision previously unimagined paths forward? How does art furnish humanity with the means to mourn, mitigate, overcome and bring solace and healing to the world’s deep antagonisms and conflicts?

In this lecture, Museo Moderno´s Director Victoria Noorthoorn will describe the values-driven transformation of this vibrant museum of modern and contemporary art in Buenos Aires throughout her leadership over the past 12 years. Noorthoorn has persistently worked towards creating a new model for a public museum in Argentina – and in doing so, she has created a new museum model – that positions art and artists as drivers of educational, social, economic and civic development.

Co-sponsored by the UM Museum of Art, Arts Initiative, and History of Art

Victoria Noorthoorn is the Director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires since 2013. She holds a Licentiate in Art History from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA, 1996) and an MA in Curatorial Studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York (1998). She has acted as Projects Coordinator for the International Program at MoMA, New York; Assistant Curator of Contemporary Exhibitions at The Drawing Center, New York; and Curator at Malba in Buenos Aires. Between 2004 and 2013, she worked independently and curated the 29th Bienal de Arte de Pontevedra, in Pontevedra, Spain (2006); the 41 Salón Nacional de Artistas, in Cali, Colombia (2008); the 7a Bienal do Mercosul, in Porto Alegre, Brazil (2009); the 11ème Biennale de Lyon: A Terrible Beauty Is Born, in Lyon, France (2011); and The Circle Walked Casually, Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, in Berlin, Germany (2013), among many other exhibitions. In 2012, she was honoured with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2014, she was selected to attend the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. During her tenure leading the Moderno, the museum has undergone a deep process of development that has involved doubling its exhibition spaces, presenting +120 exhibitions, publishing +70 bilingual publications, escalating its various education programs to involve +20.000 teachers a year and achieving recognition for its mental health and accessibility programs. At the Moderno, Noorthoorn has curated exhibitions of León Ferrari, Marta Minujín, Marina De Caro, Ana Gallardo, Tracey Rose, Zanele Muholi, Bernardo Ortiz, Delcy Morelos, and Sergio De Loof, among many others, and group exhibitions such as A Tale of Two Worlds (2017-2018) presented first at the MMK in Frankfurt and later at Museo Moderno. During the last few years, the Moderno has presented the yearly programs One Day on Earth (2022-2023), Art Is Education (2024) and Art Is Theater (2025), each of which has articulated a narrative of +10 exhibitions. During 2020-2025, Noorthoorn was an active Board member of CIMAM (International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art), and in this capacity Museo Moderno hosted the 55th CIMAM Annual Conference (2023) which focused on the educational and social dimensions of museums of modern and contemporary art and was attended by +240 museum professionals from +80 countries. Today, Museo Moderno prepares for its 70th Anniversary Program Our Home, The Future to be launched on April 26, 2026.