Shamim Momin

INTERVIEW BY AMY KELLNER

Los Angeles Nomadic Division Vice: You’re leaving for London today?
Shamim Momim: Is that all for work?
Do you always travel so much?
You were at the Whitney for 12 years before you started LAND last year. What prompted you to leave?
Were you always into art?
And what got you interested in curating specifically?
What was the first show you ever curated?
What was the show?
Is there an elaborate process you have to go through to show an artist at a museum?
Do you notice your interest leaning toward a certain medium?
Working with alternative spaces and public art as you do now must be pretty different from working at the Whitney.
What kind of reactions do you get to the public art?
Do you have any dream projects that you want to do?
OK, what are one or two of your favorite shows that you’ve done?
Pit bull rituals?
I’ve noticed you show a lot of female artists; are you interested in feminism in art? Like, you did the Alex Bag show at the Whitney. I’m such a fan of hers.
laughs Does that happen a lot?
And the thing about feminism? It seems like identity politics in art was such a big thing in the 90s and it’s all but disappeared now.
I interviewed Michelle Maccarone recently, and she was telling me how, even though everything in a gallery looks so perfect, you don’t realize that behind the scenes it’s all people covered in dirt, hauling boxes around. Is it like that at a museum too?
Is the art world glamorous?
Were you psyched to be in Oprah magazine as a “woman on the rise”?
laughs Artforum New York Times If you haven’t already, go to LAND‘s site to see what they’re up to.