The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) recently confirmed the departure of CEO and executive director Anthony Kiendl amid uncertainty about its future.
The official statement from the VAG’s board of trustees said the reason for Kiendl’s departure was the pursuit of “other professional and personal interests”. It also praised Kiendl for his work during a difficult period. “Under his leadership, the gallery navigated its way through the Covid-19 pandemic, transformed its programming and has grown its donor base, membership and attendance. He has advanced Indigenous reconciliation and helped secure lead funding for the gallery’s new home.”
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Eva Respini, deputy director and director of curatorial programs, and Sirish Rao, senior director of public engagement and learning, will be the gallery’s interim’s leaders.
The Vancouver Sun first reported the news of the Kiendl’s departure.
Kiendl joined the gallery as its leader in August 2020. During Kiendl’s time as CEO executive director, the gallery prepared to relocated to a new building in the city’s downtown. However, that plan for a design by Herzog & de Meuron was cancelled last December after the budget rose from C$400 million to C$600 million. The cost for the cancelled project was C$60 million, according to The Art Newspaper.
The news of Kiendl’s departure also follows the VAG’s announcement in January that the gallery would seek a simpler, less expensive new home through an invitation to 14 Canadian architectural firms to apply to design the new gallery. The Art Newspaper reports that the shortlisted names included the Toronto-based firm Hariri Pontarini Architects (which is designing the new Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum at Simon Fraser University) and the Vancouver-based firm Patkau Architects (which designed the Audain Art Museum in Whistler).
Kiendl will still curate the exhibition “Lucy Raven: Murderers Bar”, set to open at VAG on April 18.