After three years at the helm of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Christina Brungardt will step down as director.
Brungardt is leaving for a new position at a cultural organization in Texas, MMoCA said in a press release.
Under Brungardt’s leadership, the museum transformed its store into an exhibition space called The Shop. Brungardt also brought in guest curators, helped coordinate the museum’s youth education programming and expanded MMoCA’s permanent collection, including the installation of a limestone statue located outside the building by artist Faisal Abdu’Allah.
“Christina has played a critical role in the development and success of the organization, allowing it to fulfill its mission to provide transformative experiences that educate, reflect, and inspire us as individuals and a community,” the release quoted Colin Good, president of MMoCA’s board of trustees. “Her leadership and vision will long endure past her tenure here.”
Brungardt became the Gabriele Hablerand director of the downtown art museum in August 2020 following four years as interim and deputy director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. She succeeded Stephen Fleischman, who served as MMoCA’s director for 30 years.
Brungardt’s tenure weathered controversy last year, with artists demanding her to step down as director.
The outcry stemmed in part from the vandalism of artwork during the 2022 Wisconsin Triennial, “Ain’t I A Woman?,” an exhibition featuring 23 Black women artists. Left unsupervised, a mother and two children vandalized Madison artist Lilada Gee’s installation and walked out with pieces of her work.
Earlier that year, a white Overture Center employee additionally barred Gee from entering the back door of the museum.
Many of the Triennial’s artists eventually pulled their work from the prestigious event, saying the museum was “ill-equipped” to host an exhibition featuring Black women. A collective of the artists published an open letter to the museum, demanding the termination of Brungardt, financial restitution, public apologies and an open conversation with the artists about museum treatment.
The museum’s board responded with its own statement, saying the collective’s accusations of institutional racism were “inappropriate and unfounded.” The board backed Brungardt’s approach in addressing the vandalism incident, including dissuading police officers from forcefully retrieving the work or detaining the woman at fault.
Still, former Triennial artist Emily Leach said Brungardt and the board continued to resist “accountability, transparency and amends.”
“Arts leadership in Madison should carefully examine their own values and willingness to work in and with the public, particularly when it is challenging or unflattering,” Leach said in a statement to the Cap Times. “I hope that MMoCA’s new and established board members continue to reflect on the ongoing impact of their responses to the Triennial artists and recognize that community members will be looking toward their next steps.”
The museum will launch a national search to hire Brungardt’s replacement and is in the process of identifying an interim director, according to the press release.
MMoCA board president Good and spokesman Andrew Rogers did not return calls from the Cap Times seeking comment.