Forty Over 40

Forty Women to Watch Over 40

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Forty Over 40 Asks: 10Qs for Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Guggenheim Museum

nancyspectorWelcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. Frequently we spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This Q & A is with Nancy Spector a curator at the Guggenheim since 1989. Nancy Spector works closely with the Director to define the museum’s global strategy and oversee the creative programming for the institution and its affiliates around the world. She has organized exhibitions on conceptual photography, Felix Gonzalez Torres, Matthew Barney’s Cremaster cycle, Richard Prince, Louise Bourgeois, Marina Abramovic, Tino Sehgal, and Maurizio Cattelan. She was Adjunct Curator of the 1997 Venice Biennale and co-organizer of the first Berlin Biennial in 1998. She is a recipient of the Peter Norton Family Foundation Curators Award, five International Art Critics Association Awards and a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award for her work on Youtube Play, a Biennial of Creative Video.

1)  What was a pivotal momentum of reinvention for you? 

I have been on a curatorial track since graduate school, landing a job at the Guggenheim after an internship there.  Reinventing myself and my goals within the same career has been constant by staying abreast of and responding to the new and radicalizing our contemporary programming.  As Chief Curator I can now pave the way for other, younger curators to do the same and more.

2)  Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor? 

The artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996) who taught me that you can best disrupt from within by using the very tools most people consider traditional.

3) What is your biggest goal right now?

To expand the notion of an art museum from a repository of unique, aesthetic objects to a dynamic, multi-disciplinary and catalytic environment that can effect real social change.

4)  What time do you typically wake up? What do you do every morning?

5:00 a.m. in order to have some quiet time before I get my daughters ready for school.  I try to go on a long bike ride every morning before work.

5) How did you feel on your 30th birthday? What were you doing at that time?

I felt totally relieved to be leaving my 20s and excited about what lay ahead.  I had just begun working on my first exhibitions at the Guggenheim.

6) How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?

I go for bike rides or swims as often as possible.  On vacation I love reading fiction well into the night when everyone else is asleep.

7) What’s the best networking contact you’ve made? How did you make it?

I just recently attended an amazing retreat on leadership and vision hosted by Spark Camp that was filled with talented people from all kinds of disciplines.  The genius behind the format was that we all left friends and eager to help one another in our respective fields.

8) What cause do you most want to advance?

Rights for girls around the world, particularly in developing nations. My daughter is a Teen Advisor for Girl Up, a UN Foundation group that has become my cause as well.

9)  What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

Live within your means so that you can make major changes at any time.

10)  Who on the list of 2013 Honorees would you like to meet?

Anne-Marie Slaughter, because I, too, struggle with and fight for work/life/family balance and think it is a feminist issue that must be addressed at the legislative level.

Check out Nancy Spector’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!

Whitney Johnson

Whitney Johnson

Whitney is the author of the acclaimed Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream. She has been named on numerous Smart Thinkers and People to Follow lists by major media such as Inc. Magazine, Business Insider and Huffington Post and is quoted in Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fast Company, Forbes and more.
Whitney Johnson