Valerie Hillings Named Inaugural Director of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

DUBAI — The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi has appointed Valerie Hillings as the inaugural director of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, marking a major milestone for the cultural institution located within the Saadiyat Cultural District.

Hillings brings extensive experience with the project, having previously served as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s curator and associate director of curatorial affairs for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project from 2009 to 2018. She also spent five years on the Guggenheim’s curatorial staff in New York before serving as director of the North Carolina Museum of Art from 2018, where she expanded the collection by around 400 works and oversaw annual attendance of 1.2 million visitors.

In her new role, Hillings will oversee the museum’s strategic direction, inaugural exhibitions, and programs. The museum aims to celebrate modern and contemporary art from the 1960s to the present, featuring 30 galleries spanning 11,600 square meters of interior exhibition space and 23,000 square meters of outdoor exhibition areas.

“I am honored to return to Abu Dhabi to complete the once-in-a-lifetime journey of founding and opening Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,” Hillings said in a statement. The museum will join Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum, Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, and teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi in the UAE capital’s expanding cultural landscape.

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