Tate Modern has found a replacement for outgoing director Vicente Todolí, who leaves later this year after seven years at the iconic London museum. Chris Dercon, currently director of Munich’s Haus der Kunst, will be assuming the vacated post in Spring 2011. A native of Belgium, Dercon has been at Haus der Kunst since 2003. Previous stops on his career itinerary include MoMA/PS1 in New York, Witte de With in Rotterdam and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, also in Rotterdam. Widely respected in international contemporary art circles, Dercon curated the exhibition “Amrita Sher-Gil: An Indian Artist Family of the 20th Century” at Tate Modern in 2006. One of his first challenges in London will be overseeing a GBP 215 million expansion of Tate Modern’s current facilities, with only around one third of the budget secured so far. Dercon’s predecessor, Todolí, has said in explaining his resignation that he only commits to projects for seven years. Under his directorship the 10-year-old museum has become one of the world’s most popular institutions for contemporary art, with 4.6 million visitors in 2008-09. Todolí has said that he will be taking a year’s break before considering other projects.
