Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art general director and chief curator John Zeppetelli announced to his team on Tuesday that he would be leaving his position in 2024.
Published at 2:15 p.m. Updated at 2:42 p.m.
John Zeppetelli, who has led the MAC for more than 10 years, made this announcement in the presence of his team, the museum announced on Facebook.
“For more than 10 years, John has put his overwhelming passion for art, his great love for artists and his remarkable courage at the service of the institution. Thanks to him, the MAC has presented extraordinary exhibitions, including Teresa Margolles: Mundos and Leonard Cohen: A Breach in All Things. Most recently, the MAC hosted “Terror Contagion” by the London-based research collective Forensic Architecture in collaboration with famed documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras.
The MAC team continues its release by also mentioning the current exhibitions of Pussy Riot and Jeremy Shaw.
“He also ensured that art became more accessible to diverse audiences through a variety of educational activities and contributed to the enrichment of the museum's collection through the acquisition of notable works.” He recently launched the museum's ambitious architectural transformation project. We thank John for his remarkable contribution to the history of the MAC. »
In his note announcing his resignation, John Zeppetelli indicated that he was leaving his position “to explore new opportunities.”
“I am confident that the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art will continue to thrive and evolve under its new leadership, supported by an exceptional and committed Board of Directors. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the dedicated and motivated staff, the brilliant artists and the dynamic community who have transformed almost every moment spent at the museum into something extraordinary. Together we have created a space that not only stimulates and delights, but also challenges and confronts – a space that is anchored in the complexity of the world. »
John Zeppetelli will therefore not see the MAC's transformation work under his leadership, although plans in this direction have been in place since 2014. The most recent ones were carried out in 2017 by the architectural firms Saucier+Perrotte and GLCRM Architectes, but the budget for their implementation was constantly revised upwards, especially due to the overheating in the construction sector.
This year, both levels of government, federal and provincial, increased their participation and increased the budget from 44 million in 2018 to 116.5 million this year. A tender is currently underway. But despite this impressive sum, La Presse announced last September that the area of its exhibition halls would only increase by 28% according to the construction program.
The MAC Board of Directors, which was led by businessman Alexandre Taillefer for almost all of John Zeppetelli's term, has been led by Claudie Imbleau-Chagnon since the summer of 2022. The appointment of Ms. Imbleau-Chagnon, Vice President of Investments and Legal Affairs at Ivanhoé Cambridge, was to facilitate or even accelerate the completion of the museum's transformation work.
The MAC moved to premises on Place Ville-Marie in 2021 and moved the majority of its permanent collection to the current building. If work begins next spring, the museum could reopen in late 2026.