The Dia Art Foundation announced its new director yesterday. Philippe Vergne, the deputy director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, will take the post starting on Sept. 15.
As the Dia’s new director, Mr. Vergne, 42, will take on the task of finding and developing a permanent exhibition space for the foundation in New York City. After closing its Chelsea spaces in January 2004, Dia had planned to open a museum at the entrance to the High Line, according to the New York Times. Dia’s board vetoed the project two years later when longtime director Michael Govan left for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and then they lost board chairman and biggest benefactor, Leonard Riggio.
Mr. Vergne has been working for the Walker since 1997. New Yorkers will remember his high-profile exhibitions including "Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love," which opened at the Walker in 2007 and then went on a national tour. He also co-curated the Whitney Biennial in 2006.