Melanie O'Brian (born 1973) is a Canadian

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

and writer based in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Education

O’Brian received her BA in Art History from

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

, Portland, Oregon, and her MA in Art History at the University of Chicago, Chicago IL.

Career

She was Assistant Curator at the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

2001-2004, Director/Curator at Artspeak 2004-2010, the Curator/Head of Programs at

The Power Plant The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is a Canadian non-collecting public contemporary art gallery located at the heart of Toronto, Ontario at the Harbourfront Centre. It is a registered Canadian charitable organization supported by its membe ...

in Toronto 2011-2012, Director/Curator of Simon Fraser University Galleries 2012-2020, and Acting Director/Curator and Associate Director/Curator from 2022-2023. At The Power Plant, she curated solo exhibitions of work by Kerry Tribe, Stan Douglas, Omer Fast, and Simon Fujiwara, and group exhibitions that included the work of Abbas Akhavan, Karen Cytter,

Geoffrey Farmer Geoffrey Farmer (born 1967) is best known for extensive multimedia installations made of cut-out images which form collages. Life Early career Farmer was born on Eagle Island, BC in 1967. His career as an artist was unplanned, but he attended an ...

, Claire Fontaine, Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys, Oscar Tuazon, Ulla von Brandenburg, and Franz West, among others. At SFU Galleries, she curated solo exhibitions of work by

Hito Steyerl Hito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary.

, Walid Raad, Raymond Boisjoly, Marianne Nicolson, Andreas Bunte and Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens, as well as co-curated group exhibitions such as ''Maps and Dreams'' with

Brian Jungen Brian Jungen (born April 29, 1970 in Fort St. John, British Columbia) is an artist of Dane-zaa and Swiss ancestry living and working in the North Okanagan of British Columbia.Hoffmann, Jens. "Brian Jungen: Prototypes for New Understanding ." ''Flas ...

, ''This Now, More Than Ever'' with Steve Collis, and ''Geometry of Knowing'' and ''Through a Window: Visual Art and SFU 1965-2015'' with Amy Kazymerchyk. In 2022, she was appointed the associate director and curator of the

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in an award-winning building designed by architect Peter Cardew and o ...

at UBC. She will also serve as acting director for 2022 as Belkin continues to search for a permanent replacement for

Scott Watson Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, two young New Zealanders, disappeared in the early hours of the morning on New Year's Day, 1January 1998. The two friends had been celebrating on New Year's Eve at Furneaux Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds with other pa ...

, who retired in 2021. In 2022, she also was one of the writers contributing to

Althea Thauberger Althea Thauberger is a Canadian visual artist, film maker and educator. Her work engages relational practices rooted in sustained collaborations with groups or communities through social, theatrical and textual processes that often operate outside t ...

's publication, ''The State of the Situation''. She is the editor of such publications as ''Vancouver Art & Economies'' (Arsenal Pulp Press/Artspeak, 2007); ''Judgment and Contemporary Art Criticism'' with Jeff Khonsary (

Fillip Fillip is a Vancouver-based contemporary art publishing organization formed in 2004. It publishes a magazine as well as books of critical writing. The magazine with the same name was started in 2005. The publisher of the magazine is the Project ...

/Artspeak, 2010); ''Entertainment'' (The Power Plant, 2011); (with Milena Hoegberg) of ''5,000 Feet is the Best:

Omer Fast Omer Fast (born in Jerusalem 1972) is an Israeli video artist. Early life and education Born and raised in Israel, Fast spent much of his teenage years in Jericho, New York while his father pursued a medical degree in both countries. He received ...

'' (The Power Plant/Henie Onstad Center/Sternberg Press, 2012); ''$5 Handshake: Art on Treaty 8'' and with

Stan Douglas Stan Douglas (born October 11, 1960) is an artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Douglas' film and video installations, photography and work in television frequently touch on the history of literature, cinema and music, while examining t ...

, of ''Territory'' (SFU Galleries, 2018). She was a contributing curator to ''MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture'' at the

. She has taught at

Emily Carr University Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

, and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrian, Melanie Canadian art curators Canadian women curators University of Chicago alumni Reed College alumni Living people 1973 births People from Toronto