In Conversation with Allison Glenn: Curator, 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art

Allison Glenn is a New York-based curator and writer focusing on the intersection of art and public space through public art and special projects, biennials, and major new commissions by a wide range of contemporary artists. For over fifteen years, Glenn has been devoted to realizing ambitious and experimental exhibitions and site-specific projects with artists working across the globe.

She gained broad acclaim for curating the pathbreaking 2021 exhibition Promise, Witness, Remembrance at Louisville, Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum. The exhibition reflected on the life of Breonna Taylor through the work of over twenty contemporary artists including Amy Sherald, Nari Ward, Bethany Collins, and Glenn Ligon. Glenn has held positions including Co-Curator of Counterpublic Triennial 2023; Visiting Curator, at The University of Tulsa, where she curated the Sovereign Futures convening; Senior Curator at New York’s Public Art Fund; and, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  In this role, Glenn shaped how outdoor sculpture activates and engages Crystal Bridges’ 120-acre campus through a series of new commissions, touring group exhibitions, and long-term loans by artists including Amanda Ross-Ho, Odili Donald Odita, George Sanchez-Calderon, and Rashid Johnson. She also held a curatorial position with New Orleans’ international art triennial Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp.

Glenn has published widely, contributing essays to catalogs produced by The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Counterpublic Triennial, Prospect New Orleans, Studio Museum in Harlem, Princeton Architectural Press, Neubauer Collegium, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and periodicals including Artforum, ART PAPERS, Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, and ART21 Magazine. Glenn sits on the Board of Directors for ARCAthens, an international curatorial and artist residency program. She received dual Master’s degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism as well as Arts Administration and Policy. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art Photography with a co-major in Urban Studies from Wayne State University in Detroit.