CIMAM, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art, announces the election of its new president and board for the 2026–28 term.
The announcement took place on Sunday, November 30, 2025, during the General Assembly held in the framework of the 57th CIMAM Annual Conference, Enduring Game: Expanding New Models of Museum Making, hosted by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Fondazione Torino Musei, and Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, and supported by Fondazione Arte CRT and Fondazione CRT.
The newly elected President of CIMAM is Amanda de la Garza Mata, Artistic Deputy Director at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) in Madrid, Spain, who will lead the organization together with a renewed Board of 14 international museum professionals representing CIMAM’s global community across more than 91 countries.
“It is a true honor serving as the president of CIMAM for the next three years. As a Board, we will seek to preserve and enhance the core values of CIMAM: diversity, solidarity, collective and critical thinking. Art museums and cultural ecosystems face nowadays enormous challenges and threats; therefore, CIMAM should be a place where museums and professionals can discuss the present and future of institutions through imagination, commitment, and ethical principles. At the same time, CIMAM should be a place of understanding, sharing, and togetherness," states Amanda de la Garza Mata, President of CIMAM.
The new board will guide CIMAM’s strategic direction and programs for the next three years, strengthening its mission to foster dialogue, ethical leadership, and sustainability in the field of modern and contemporary art museums.
The 14 elected members of the CIMAM Board (2026–28) are:
Zeina Arida, Director, Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar Raphael Chikukwa, Executive Director, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+, Hong Kong. Joselina Cruz, Director and Curator, Museum of Contemporary and Design (MCAD), Manila, Philippines. Tatiana Cuevas, General Director, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáeno (MUAC), Mexico City, Mexico Amanda de la Garza Mata, Deputy Artistic Director, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain. Elvira Dyangani Ose, Director, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona, Spain Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, Chief Curator, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore. Clara M Kim, Chief Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, USA. Sunjung Kim, Artistic Director, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea. Pablo Lafuente, Artistic Director, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Chus Martinez, Head, Institute Art Gender Nature Basel, Switzerland. Stephanie Rosenthal, Director, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Kamini Sawhney, Artistic Director, Public Arts Project, BLRHubba, Bengaluru, India.
Together, they will oversee CIMAM’s key programs, including the Annual Conference, the Travel Grants, the Museum Watch, Sustainability in Museum Practice, the Outstanding Museum Practice Award, and the Rapid Response Webinars, ensuring that the organization continues to serve as a global forum for modern and contemporary art museum professionals.
Next CIMAM Annual Conference: Harare, Zimbabwe. November 2026
In Turin, CIMAM also announced the dates of the 58th Annual Conference, which will take place in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 20 to 22 November, organized and hosted by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. The 2026 edition will mark the first CIMAM Annual Conference held in Africa, continuing the organization’s commitment to global representation and exchange.
“Africa’s contribution to the global modern and contemporary art can be understood from its own context by coming to Zimbabwe CIMAM Annual Conference 2026. Coming to Zimbabwe CIMAM Annual Conference 2026 offers an opportunity to reflect and understand each other in the African soil.” —Raphael Chikukwa, Executive Director, National Gallery of Zimbabwe
Outstanding Museum Practice Award 2025
Also announced in Turin were the 2025 CIMAM Outstanding Museum Practice Awards (OMPA), granted to the Museo Barda del Desierto (mBDD) in Northern Patagonia, Argentina; the Bergen Kjøtt Foundation in Bergen, Norway; and The Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, Palestine. Each of these institutions was recognized for its clearly intentioned and impactful practices that reinforce the core values and purposes of museums through creative collaboration with museum professionals, communities, artists, and the public.
Suhanya Raffel, Director of M+ in Hong Kong, a member of the CIMAM Board since 2016 and President of CIMAM 2023-25, was appointed Honorary Member of CIMAM.
