Marilu Knode

Executive Director, Laumeier Sculpture Park / Aronson Endowed Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Prior to arrival at Laumeier, Knode served as Associate Director / Head of Research at F.A.R. (Future Arts Research) at Arizona State University, where she commissioned special projects, performances and panels. She served as Senior Curator at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (2003 - 2007) where she organized thematic group shows such as Water, Water Everywhere… and a traveling show with Pae White. While at the Institute of Visual Arts (inova) at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (1997 - 2003), she worked with artists Ghada Amer (Egypt / USA), Andrea Bowers (USA), Matts Leiderstam (Sweden), Per Maning (Norway), Mona Marzouk (Egypt), Yoshitomo Nara (Japan), Berni Searle (South Africa) and Pascale Marthine Tayou (Cameroon / Belgium), among others.

She co-organized, with Paul Schimmel, the touring show of Tony Cragg at the Newport Harbor Art Museum; for the Otis Gallery, Los Angeles, a touring show with Kim Dingle; for the Laguna Art Museum the mid-career survey of Llyn Foulkes; and the first survey of Fred Tomaselli’s work while at the Huntington Beach Art Center. Knode was the U.S. Commissioner for the 7th International Cairo Biennale with Nancy Spero and co-founded a curatorial practice program at the American University in Cairo.

Knode has an extensive record of lecture, panel and jury activities including ArtForum Berlin and the Yale School of Architecture. She has contributed essays to Art in America, Flash Art, Tema Celeste; the Savannah College of Art and Design, CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, the Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Germany and Townhouse Gallery, Cairo.

Knode received a BA in Art History from the University of Kansas in 1980 and an MA in Museum Studies from City College of New York in 1984