Portland’s Disjecta Contemporary Art Center Fires Its Founder And The Recriminations Fly

On a New Year's Eve, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center's founder and executive director, Bryan Suereth has been dismissed due to conflicts on his leadership. On January 5, Cros Moss who is the diretor of the University of Oregon's White Box Gallery will be the interim director.

According to Oregon Live, Suereth, 43, built the organization in 2000 and converted Disjecta to a nonprofit in 2004. During the time he is just starting, Suereth partnered in many projects with Gavin Shettler (founder of the now-defunct Portland Art Center) and Paul Middendorf (founder of Gallery Homeland, now based in Houston).

Over the years of being the executive director of Disjecta, Suereth has initiated a curator-in-residence program, arranged a series of biennial exhibitions, and helped secure $170,000 in grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation. However, problems have risen between Suereth and the board of directors when Christine D'Arcy took over the board chair in 2014. Suereth said, "When Chris came in, we lost structure and guidance." He added, "She can be very terse in her mode of communication. She's a systems-oriented, law-and-order type and I'm an impulsive but pragmatic rule-breaker."

According to Art Forum, D'Arcy disagreed with Suereth, and has stated that it is "not a result of a personality conflict" but instead, a concern about his job performance - being the reason why the board decided to let the founder of Disjecta go. "The board conducted a performance review of Bryan in late 2015. He was credited for his transformational role as founder, but one hundred percent of the board felt that stronger management skills were needed."

D'Arcy has discussed with another board member to keep Suereth as the founding advisor with a paid stipend for the year. But Suereth did not agree with this proposal. A month later, Suereth's supporters - architect Daniel Kaven, artist Modou Dieng, and real estate developers Mary Hanlon, David Gold, and Ken Unkeles appealed to the board to keep Suereth in the organization. They promised to donate $150,000 in three years and to raise an additional of $150,000 if Suereth will be allowed to stay as a director. However, they have been turned down.

There has been a national search for a new executive director which ends on January 16. The board is looking forward to have someone hired by March.Stay tuned for more of the trending news.

TagsPortland Disjecta Contemporary Art center, Portland, Art Center, Portland Symphony Orchestra