12 Facts About Michelle Kuo

Michelle Kuo was born on 1977 or 1978 and is an American curator, writer, and art historian.

Since 2018, Kuo has been a curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art.

Michelle Kuo was previously editor-in-chief of Artforum magazine starting in 2010.

Michelle Kuo earned a BA from Stanford University, majoring in art history and political science.

From 2005 to 2007, Michelle Kuo was the Wyeth Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

Michelle Kuo returned to Harvard to earn a PhD in the history of art and architecture, where Yve-Alain Bois was her advisor.

Michelle Kuo's dissertation focused on the art group Experiments in Art and Technology; she defended her dissertation in December 2017.

Michelle Kuo became senior editor of Artforum magazine in March 2008 while a PhD candidate at Harvard.

Columbia Journalism Review credited Michelle Kuo for shifting the magazine towards an academic direction with issues focused on identity politics and the place of art in daily life.

In February 2018, Michelle Kuo was appointed the Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

In March 2025, Michelle Kuo led the team behind MoMA's acclaimed show "Jack Whitten: The Messenger," the first full-career survey exhibit of the work of American abstract painter and sculptor Jack Whitten.

Michelle Kuo recalls her uncle was the first artist whose work interested her, having grown up with his works in her home.