Today, London's Design Museum named Tim Marlow as the incoming chief executive and director after announcing the current co-directors Deyan Sudjic and Alice Black will step down in January after 13- and four-year tenures, respectively. Effective January 2020, Marlow will assume his new position and Sudjic will become director emeritus in recognition of his “curatorial and creative leadership in successfully establishing the museum as the foremost institution of its kind,” according to a press release from the museum.
Marlow currently serves as the artistic director of the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he has held since 2015. During his time with the Royal Academy, Marlow organized several popular exhibitions, working with artists such as Ai Weiwei, Antony Gormley, and Tacita Dean.
“I’m both excited and honoured by the prospect of leading the Design Museum into the next chapter of its relatively brief but already illustrious history. The opportunity to build on the impressive work that the museum and its staff have already done in promoting the central importance of design and architecture in shaping our world is phenomenal. In a world class building with an energetic and talented team, I’m fired up for the challenges which lie ahead,” Marlow said in a press release from the museum.
Credited with transforming the Design Museum, Sudjic and Black have worked together since Black joined the museum as deputy director in 2007; Sudjic was appointed director in 2006. Together they oversaw the museum’s $100-million (82 million pound) move to its current Kensington High Street location, which was renovated by London-based firms John Pawson and Allies and Morrison, and international firm OMA. The transformation tripled the museum’s size, exponentially growing the number of annual visitors and housing over 90 exhibitions. Upon the move in 2016, Black was named co-director alongside Sudjic.
“Moving the Design Museum to Kensington is the most significant moment of my whole career in design because it allowed all my early dreams and ambitions to come true,” said Design Museum founder, Terence Conran in a press release. "We have created a world class museum with the size and scope for the serious promotion and celebration of design and architecture in this country. I am eternally grateful to Deyan and Alice for their outstanding work in leading and [realizing] this vision and for the three successful years we have enjoyed in our museum’s new iconic home."
