David Platzker Named MoMA’s Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books
NEW YORK, April 24, 2012 — The Museum of Modern Art has appointed David Platzker as a Curator in the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, Glenn D. Lowry, Director of The Museum of Modern Art, announced today. Platzker, widely known for his expertise in artists' books, multiples, and ephemera of the post-1960 period, will work closely with Chief Curator Christophe Cherix, participating in the curatorial program, including exhibitions, special projects, and acquisition initiatives.
"Platzker's long-standing commitment to the study of artists' books, multiples, and ephemera will be a tremendous asset to the department. His research, publications, and curatorial projects over the past twenty years have helped redefine a broader notion of the field of printmaking," said Cherix. "He will play an important role in managing the Museum's extraordinarily comprehensive Fluxus holdings and facilitating cross-departmental projects."
Platzker served as a curator to Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen from 1989 to 1998, during which time he produced the catalogue raisonné Claes Oldenburg: Multiples in Retrospect 1964-1990 and curated the exhibition of the same name, which traveled to various institutions across Europe between 1992 and 1997. In 1997, with Richard H. Axsom, he co-authored the landmark publication Printed Stuff: Prints, Posters, and Ephemera by Claes Oldenburg: a Catalogue Raisonné 1958-1996, which played a significant role in bringing printed ephemera and other distributed materials into the curatorial domain of printmaking.
Between 1998 and 2004, Platzker was the Executive Director of the non-profit bookstore Printed Matter, where he organized numerous exhibitions and artists' publications, increased and focused the programming and profile of the organization, and also oversaw its relocation from SoHo to its first Chelsea location. Following his tenure at Printed Matter, Platzker served from 2004 to 2008 as Project Director for Art Spaces Archives Project (AS-AP), New York, a non-profit research initiative dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the archives of alternative art spaces nationwide.
Currently, Platzker is the President of Specific Object, a curatorial project and bookstore that he founded in 2004 with a specialized inventory in Pop, Minimal, and Conceptual artists' publications and artworks. Using these holdings as a springboard, Platzker curated a number of focused exhibitions at the space over the past decade, featuring artists and themes such as Robert Barry, Bruce Conner, documenta 5, the Dwan Gallery, Dan Graham, and Lawrence Weiner, among many others. He will close his business in the coming weeks and join the Museum's staff on May 15.
An accomplished author and lecturer, Platzker has contributed numerous essays to exhibition catalogues and magazines and serves on the Board of Directors of Primary Information, a non-profit publishing initiative based in New York. He holds a bachelors degree in Art History from St. Lawrence University in New York.
