After stepping down from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Glenn Lowry is opening a new chapter in the art world. The longtime director will serve as an advisor for the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and for India’s Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, taking an active role in shaping regional projects.
An art historian and specialist in Islamic art, Lowry announced his new positions shortly after leaving MoMA, which he led for three decades. Speaking on Charlotte Burns’s podcast The Art World: What If…?!, Lowry described this new phase of his career as “a return to the beginning”:
“My career started in this region. The developments in the Gulf’s art and cultural landscape are remarkable—but my interests go far beyond that,” he said.
Cultural Ambition, Ethical Debates, and a “New” Beginning
Founded by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture in 2020, the Diriyah Biennale Foundation launched the Islamic Arts Biennale to bring together historical artifacts and contemporary works by Muslim artists. Yet the country’s human-rights record has placed the biennale at the center of artwashing debates—using art to sanitize political image.
Lowry describes the region’s cultural production as “different, but equally ambitious”:
“What’s happening there is genuinely impressive. Cultural development follows another system, but it’s driven by the same kind of determination that shaped this country’s [the U.S.] cultural expansion a century ago,” he noted.
His new advisory roles have also reignited scrutiny of MoMA’s governance during his tenure. The museum’s board has long faced criticism for including figures linked to human-rights violations or controversial investments. Leon Black, who had financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein, remains a trustee, while Marie-Josée Kravis—wife of Henry Kravis, co-founder of the defense-investing firm KKR—continues to serve as chair.
Lowry previously defended such affiliations, arguing that “a donor’s political views are less relevant than their support for cultural institutions.” Still, in a MoMA speech last June, he emphasized the need to “protect pluralism, freedom of expression, and diverse voices”—remarks that signaled a more self-reflective stance.
Now 71, Lowry is simultaneously developing a leadership project with Alice Walton’s Art Bridges Foundation and preparing to participate in the upcoming lecture series I Want a Museum. I Need a Museum. I Imagine a Museum at the Louvre. After more than three decades at the helm of one of the world’s leading museums, Glenn Lowry seems intent on redefining the balance between ethics, power, and cultural representation in contemporary art institutions.
