Members of the search committee celebrate with João Ribas (center), the newly appointed executive director of REDCAT. Edgar Miramontes (second from right) was promoted to deputy executive director and curator. Also, left to right: Michael Ned Holte (faculty), Berenice Reynaud (faculty), Tracie Costantino (provost and search committee chair), and Chi-wang Yang (faculty). Not pictured: Tim Disney (chair of CalArts Board of Trustees and search committee member). Members of the search committee celebrate with João Ribas (center), the newly appointed executive director of REDCAT. Edgar Miramontes (second from right) was promoted to deputy executive director and curator. Also, left to right: Michael Ned Holte (faculty), Berenice Reynaud (faculty), Tracie Costantino (provost and search committee chair), and Chi-wang Yang (faculty). Not pictured: Tim Disney (chair of CalArts Board of Trustees and search committee member).

Bem-vindo, João Ribas

May 14, 2020
By Marylou Ferry

Internationally Renowned Curator to Lead REDCAT

REDCAT is often recognized for bolstering global connections across the arts, and now with the announcement of João Ribas as the Steven D. Lavine Executive Director of REDCAT and Vice President for Cultural Partnerships, those connections take on a new dimension.

Ribas, the former director of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal, has built an internationally renowned curatorial practice. Working with artists from around the world, he’s organized numerous exhibitions internationally, including the work of Frances Stark, Amalia Pica, Nairy Baghramian, Rachel Rose, Nick Mauss, Sun Xun, The Otolith Group, and Martine Syms, among others.

“João’s experience working with diverse artists to present new work to audiences aligns with REDCAT’s mission as a multidisciplinary center for innovative, risk-taking work,” said CalArts President Ravi Rajan. “And his championing of free expression aligns with the values integral to CalArts’ community of artists.”

REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater and CalArts’ downtown center for contemporary arts, is moving in exciting directions as it approaches its third decade.

“I have long followed REDCAT’s innovative program and have worked with many of the same visual, performing, and media artists over the years,” Ribas said. “And the creativity that CalArts fosters has also been of long-standing inspiration.”

Prior to his work with the Serralves, Ribas held positions at the MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Drawing Center in New York. He curated the fourth edition of the Ural Biennial in 2017 and served as curator for the Portuguese Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.

Arts and culture have been at the center of Ribas’ life. Born in Braga, Portugal, in 1979, Ribas moved to Newark, NJ, in 1988 and stayed in the tri-state area for more than two decades. Ribas has taught at the Yale University School of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. His writing on the arts has been published in numerous publications and monographs, and in magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, Artforum, Afterall, Artnews, Art in America, Frieze, Mousse, and Spike.

“As a writer and educator himself, João understands the importance of connecting our students to working artists as resources—as teachers of their practice—in both subtle and overt ways,” noted CalArts Provost Tracie Costantino.

Ribas will work closely with Edgar Miramontes, who was promoted to Deputy Executive Director and Curator. Miramontes has been with REDCAT since 2008 and will play a key role in leading staff and contributing to programming in the forthcoming seasons.