Patricia Cariño Valdez, Curator and Director of Public Programs at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
René de Guzman, Director of Exhibition Strategy and Senior Curator of Art, Oakland Museum of California
Deena Chalabi, Barbara and Stephan Vermut Associate Curator of Public Dialogue, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Three alumni curators from different organizations explore the process of curating objects, new technologies, and public experiences with different goals and in varied locations. Speakers will also discuss their Berkeley education and share ideas for further collaboration with the university and with Berkeley students.

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Patricia Cariño Valdez is the Curator and Director of Public Programs at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). She oversees exhibition coordination including research, interpretation, and presentation of 8–10 contemporary art exhibitions per year. Additionally, she develops public engagement initiatives including ICA Live!, a performance art program, and Talking Art, a series of panel discussions and artist lectures, portfolio reviews, and workshops. Prior to the ICA, Valdez worked at the intersection of arts and sciences as the Public Programs Coordinator and Development Specialist at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Her curatorial projects have been held at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Asian Contemporary Arts Consortium, Oakland Museum of California, Pro Arts, California College of the Arts, and numerous independent galleries and art spaces in San Francisco and Oakland. She currently serves as an advisory board member of Emerging Arts Professionals San Francisco/Bay Area and is a member of the Public Art Advisory Committee for the City of Oakland. In 2016, Valdez was selected to participate in the Independent Curators International Curatorial Intensive in Manila, Philippines. She was born in Manila and grew up along the West Coast of the U.S. Valdez earned a BA in History of Art from the University of California, Berkeley and an MA in Curatorial Practice from the California College of the Arts.

René de Guzman is Director of Exhibition Strategy and Senior Curator of Art at the Oakland Museum of California. Previously, he was a founding staff member at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where he provided early support for some of the Bay Area’s leading artists and worked with national and international emerging and mid-career artists. His artworks are in collections, including at the Berkeley Art Museum and the San Jose Museum of Art. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Division of the Curatorial Studies Program at the California College of the Arts. 

Deena Chalabi is the Barbara and Stephan Vermut Associate Curator of Public Dialogue at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. From 2009 to 2012, she was the founding Head of Strategy at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. She created the ‘Pop-Up Mathaf’ program for collaborative international partnerships, curating Interference at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in July 2011. She guest curated three additional Pop-Up Mathaf programs internationally, and has written for Bidoun, ArtAsiaPacific, and The New Inquiry, among other publications.