Paul Ha

Paul Ha is a museum director widely recognized for his support of influential artists early in their careers, and with raising the visibility of the organizations he heads. He is currently the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) List Visual Arts Center. Prior to joining MIT, Ha was the director of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM) from 2002–11. As the inaugural director, he quickly positioned CAM to be a leader in the field of contemporary art, garnering national and international recognition for its exhibitions. During this period, CAM gave a number of artists the first major museum exhibition of their careers, including Laylah Ali, Lutz Bacher, Yun-Fei Ji, David Noonan, Alexander Ross, Gedi Sibony, and Carey Young. Other artists exhibited include Chantal Akerman, Polly Apfelbaum, Richard Artschwager, Slater Bradley, Jim Hodges, Maya Lin, Olivier Mosset, Yoshitomo Nara, William Pope.L, and Cindy Sherman. Prior to joining CAM, Ha was the deputy director of programs and external Affairs at the Yale University Art Gallery, and executive director of White Columns in New York. Ha has curated and organized more than 100 solo and group exhibitions and exhibited artists such as Sarah Sze, Christoph Büchel, Jessica Craig-Martin, Rachel Feinstein, and Anna Gaskell, often presenting their first solo exhibitions. Ha was the commissioner of the US Pavilion at the La Biennale di Venezia 56th International Art Exhibition, presenting artist Joan Jonas at the 2015 Venice Biennale. He served as the Center's exhibitions panel chair in 2012, as well as a LOI panelist that same year, and was part of the Center's management panel in 2010. In 2016, Ha served as a panelist for Exhibitions & Public Interpretation.