The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum recently appointed two new curators.

Lutz Koepnick, currently a professor of German and film and media studies at Washington University, accepted an additional position of curator of new media in July. Meredith Malone was promoted from curatorial fellow to assistant curator at about the same time.

Sabine Eckmann, director and chief curator at the museum, who was responsible for Koepnick’s appointment, said it made official what he had already been doing for four years.

“I thought it would be necessary to formalize his activities and his work for the museum,” she said.

Koepnick, who will retain his full teaching position at Wash. U, said his new position as curator feeds back into his own research interests.

“It allows me to pursue certain questions that I would pursue in my academic work more theoretically. At the museum, I can do it in a more tangible dimension,” he said.

Koepnick says he will try to build links from the museum to the School of Arts & Sciences, as well as from the art school to Arts & Sciences. He says he will work with students on media issues and translate those issues into exhibits.

His history with the museum includes curating for the Ellen Cohen exhibit, a smaller photo exhibit in 2003. Last year, he also started co-curating an ongoing series called Screen Arts and New Media Aesthetics; that project will continue for several years.

“I have strong interests in how technology informs changes, structures and the way we experience the world, and how that often translates into certain kinds of artistic productions,” he said. “The questions in my own academic interests very much lie in that field.”

Malone had also been involved with the museum in the past in the position of curatorial fellow.

“I was very impressed by [Malone's] scholarship and her activities for the museum,” said Eckmann. “She did a terrific job [as fellow].”

Malone grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, majored in art history at George Washington University and went to the University of Pennsylvania for graduate school. She moved to St. Louis about a year ago for her job.

“This is what I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” she said.

Koepnick’s new responsibilities and activities as curator include putting shows together, helping the Kemper build its video collection, participating in monthly curator meetings, bringing artists and scholars to campus and helping to build critical discourse on art.

He also hopes to build and participate in a series of workshops and discussions on new media art.

“My workload is very challenging but also very productive,” he said.

Malone said the museum has an ambitious schedule for this year.

“We want to keep up the momentum and interact with students more,” said Malone. “There’s a huge student population at the museum. We gear a lot of programming to the University.”

Eckmann agreed, adding, “New people always bring new, stimulating ideas. We always try to involve students. We’ll continue to do that on all levels.”

The museum is planning an exhibition with artist Thaddeus Strode in February. They will do studio visits with art school students but would like to get more students involved.

“It should be pretty popular,” Malone said. “His pictures are a kind of crazy mix of comic-book aesthetics, Day-Glo colors, a kind of Zen philosophy and California culture.”

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