Olga Viso

Olga Viso was the Walker Art Center's executive director from 2008 to 2017. As an art historian and curator of contemporary visual art, she is known for her scholarship in contemporary Latin American art and the work of the performance-based Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta. RCuratorial projects include a survey of contemporary American sculptor Jim Hodges, which she co-curated with Jeffrey Grove at the Dallas Museum of Art in 2013. Before coming to the Walker in 2008, Viso spent 12 years at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, as a curator of contemporary art and ultimately as director. At the Hirshhorn, she organized or co-organized significant exhibitions of leading artists, including Robert Gober, Guillermo Kuitca, Ana Mendieta and Juan Muñoz. Prior to joining the Hirshhorn, Viso was Curator at the Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach, Florida), and held several curatorial and administrative positions at the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, Georgia). She currently is on the board of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York and has been a trustee at the American Association of Museum Directors. In 2013 she was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Council on the Arts. She received her master’s degree in art history from Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) in 1992.