Denise Markonish

Denise Markonish is the Martin Friedman Chief Curator at Madison Square Park, starting in June 2025. For the previous 18 years, she was at  MASS MoCA where her exhibitions include Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream…(co-organized with the Contemporary Art Museum Houston); Jeffrey Gibson: POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT; Joseph Grigely: In What Way Wham?; Glenn Kaino: In the Light of a Shadows; Suffering from Realness; Trenton Doyle Hancock, Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass; Nick Cave: Until (co-organized with Crystal Bridges and Carriageworks); Explode Every Day: An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Wonder; Teresita Fernández: As Above So Below; Oh, Canada; and Nari Ward: Sub Mirage Lignum. She has worked on long-term projects with Laurie Anderson, and commissioned works by Sarah Oppenheimer, Stephen Vitiello, Julianne Swartz, Mark Dion, and many others. Markonish has produced numerous exhibition catalogues and edited Teresita Fernández: Wayfinding (DelMonico) and Wonder: 50 Years of RISD Glass, and co-edited Sol LeWitt: 100 Views (Yale University Press). She has taught at Williams College and the Rhode Island School of Design and was a visiting curator at Artpace, San Antonio, and Haystack School of Craft, Deer Isle, Maine.