Aaron Betsky
Aaron Betsky was tapped as the Cincinnati Art Museum's eighth director in 2006. As the former Director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, one of the most important architecture museums and centers in the world, he held the post of Commissioner for the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale's International Architecture Exhibition for three consecutive editions and is now the Venice Biennale's Architecture Director (2008). Betsky also curated the eighth International Architecture Exhibition (2002) which won the Golden Lion for best foreign pavilion.
Betsky brings a strong combination of management, development, and scholarship experience to Cincinnati. He is a prolific writer and editor with a dozen books and magazines to his credit, including The New York Times, Metropolitan Home, Domus, and Artforum. His noted books include What is Modernism (Phaidon Press, to be published in autumn 2008) and The United Nations Building (Thames & Hudson, 2006).
After finishing his secondary education in the Netherlands, Betsky graduated from the Yale School of Architecture and is currently an accepted candidate for a Ph.D. in the History of Architecture from the Technical University in Delft (Netherlands). He has held the Eero Saarinen chair in architecture at the University of Michigan and has been a visiting professor at Columbia University, California College of Arts, School of Architecture in Houston, and Southern California Institute of Santa Monica. He is an honorary member of the British Institute of Architects (2004) and has won an award from the American Institute of Architects (2001). From 1985 to 1987, he worked with Frank O. Gehry Associates, Inc.
Originally from Missoula, Montana and raised in the Netherlands, Betsky has previously spent time in Cincinnati. From 1983 to 1985, he taught at the University of Cincinnati's School of Architecture and Interior Design. In addition, he served on the architect selection committee for the Contemporary Arts Center's new building in 1998.
This biography was taken directly from the Cincinnati Art Museum's web site.
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