The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism has announced the appointment of American art historian Valerie Hillings as the first director of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art that will be built in the Saadiyat Cultural District and represents one of the United Arab Emirates’ most ambitious cultural projects (scheduled to open on December 11, 2026). With this appointment, the leadership of the institution is taking shape; she will be tasked with defining the new museum’s identity, overseeing its inaugural phase, and establishing its role on the international stage. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is one of the pillars of the Saadiyat Cultural District, the cultural hub nearing completion on Saadiyat Island, where some of the country’s leading museums are already open or are set to open soon. The new museum will join the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, and teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi.
As the museum’s director, Valerie Hillings will be tasked with transforming this vision into a concrete museum project. Her responsibilities will include defining the institution’s overall strategy, overseeing the inaugural exhibitions and cultural programs, and building a museum that, while rooted in the Abu Dhabi context, aims to engage with an international audience through the narrative of art from the 1960s to the present day.
The stated goal is to create an institution capable of connecting different cultures, fostering dialogue between artists and audiences from diverse backgrounds, and promoting an understanding of modern and contemporary art as a language of international dialogue.
For Hillings, this marks a return to a project she knows intimately. From 2009 to 2018, she worked for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation as a curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi project. During those years, she collaborated directly with the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism on defining the strategy for building the future museum’s collection, acquiring artworks, organizing the cultural programs leading up to the opening, and developing the architectural design by Frank Gehry.
Before taking on that role, Hillings had already gained significant experience at the Guggenheim in New York, where she had worked for five years on the curatorial staff, establishing a specialization in modern and contemporary art that has characterized her entire career.
Since 2018, the art historian had served as director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, an institution where she spearheaded an extensive renovation program. During her tenure, the galleries dedicated to the permanent collection were redesigned, the museum acquired approximately 400 new works, and annual visitor numbers grew to 1.2 million, doubling compared to figures prior to her arrival.
Valerie Hillings’ academic career unfolded in the United States. She earned her Ph.D. and master’s degree in Art History and Archaeology from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Duke University, with a specialization in modern and contemporary art.
“I am honored to return to Abu Dhabi to complete this once-in-a-lifetime journey that led me to found and open the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a museum developed in the United Arab Emirates by colleagues from both the region and around the world,” said the new director. “I look forward to welcoming local and international audiences to the magnificent building designed by Frank Gehry and inviting them to explore the connections and unique stories through the lens of art from the 1960s to the present.”
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| Valerie Hillings will be the first director of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi |
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