ANDRáS SZáNTó | DATE 1/21/2026

Guggenheim Museum presents 'The Future of the Art World' author András Szántó in conversation with Mariët Westermann, Agnieszka Kurant and Souleymane Bachir Diagne

Wednesday, January 21, from 6:30–8:30 PM, Guggenheim Director and CEO Mariët Westermann will appear in conversation with cultural strategy advisor András Szántó to celebrate the publication of his latest book, The Future of the Art World: 38 Dialogues, published by Hatje Cantz. The discussion will also include include artist Agnieszka Kurant and philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne. Followed by a book signing.

$20 general, $15 members. Buy Tickets.

ABOUT THE BOOK
The third in a series of books investigating the future of the museum, following on The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues (2020) and Imagining the Future of the Museum: 21 Dialogues With Architects (2022). Rounding out the previous volumes, which examined the “software” and the “hardware” of the museum, the 38 dialogues in the third installment of the trilogy survey the social, cultural, economic, institutional, and technological conditions of the wider ecology in which museums operate. The conversations include leading figures from around the world, engaging voices not heard in the prior volumes: artists, curators, collectors, members of the art trade, sociologists, entrepreneurs, and others. Together, they offer a portrait of an art world seeking to adapt to a rapidly changing society.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Souleymane Bachir Diagne received his academic training in France. An alumnus of the École Normale Supérieure, he holds an agrégation in Philosophy (1978) and he took his Doctorat d’État in philosophy at the Sorbonne (1988) where he also took his BA (1977). Before joining Columbia University in 2008 he taught philosophy for many years at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar (Senegal) and at Northwestern University. His field of research includes history of logic, history of philosophy, Islamic philosophy, African philosophy and literature. He is the author of African Art as Philosophy: Senghor, Bergson, and the Idea of Negritude (Seagull Books, 2011), The Ink of the Scholars: Reflections on Philosophy in Africa, (Dakar, Codesria, 2016), Open to Reason: Muslim Philosophers in Conversation with Western Tradition, (New York, Columbia University Press, 2018). His book, Bergson postcolonial. L’élan vital dans la pensée de Senghor et de Mohamed Iqbal, (Paris: Editions du CNRS, 2011) is forthcoming in an English version to be published by Fordham University Press. That book was awarded the Dagnan-Bouveret prize by the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences for 2011 and on that same year professor Diagne received the Edouard Glissant Prize for his work. Souleymane Bachir Diagne’s current teaching interests include history of early modern philosophy, philosophy and Sufism in the Islamic world, African philosophy and literature, twentieth century French philosophy.

Agnieszka Kurant is a visual artist investigating collective and nonhuman intelligences, the future of labor and creativity, and the exploitations within digital capitalism. She is the recipient of the 2020 LACMA A+T Award and the 2019 Frontier Art Prize. Her solo exhibitions include Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (2025), MUDAM, Luxembourg (2024); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2021-23); Sculpture Center, New York (2013); and Kunstverein Hannover (2023). In 2015 she realized a commission for the façade of the Guggenheim Museum (as part of exhibition Storylines), and in 2022 a permanent commission for the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge. Her work was also exhibited at the Gwangju Biennale (2024), Sydney Biennial (2024); Istanbul Biennial (2019); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2021), Centre Pompidou (2024), Palais de Tokyo (2014), Jeu de Paume (2025) and Pinault Collection – Bourse de Commerce, Paris (2024); MCA, Sydney (2025), Gropius Bau, Berlin (2023); Louisiana Museum, Denmark (2023); SFMOMA (2020); Kunsthalle Wien (2020); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2020); Guggenheim Bilbao (2017), and Witte de With, Rotterdam (2014).

Dr. Mariët Westermann is the Director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, directing its flagship museum in New York, overseeing the Foundation and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and providing collaborative leadership at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Westermann most recently led NYU Abu Dhabi, a degree-granting campus of NYU, as Vice Chancellor, having been the institution’s founding Provost from 2007 to 2010. She has also served as Executive Vice President of the Mellon Foundation, Director of NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, Associate Director at the Clark Art Institute, and a faculty member at Rutgers University. She earned a BA at Williams College and an MA and PhD at the Institute of Fine Arts. Westermann publishes widely on Netherlandish painting, the anthropology of art, museums, and higher education. She serves on the boards of ALIPH, the Rijksmuseum, and the American Academy in Rome and chairs the Scholar Rescue Fund of the Institute of International Education.

This program will conclude with a book signing. Kindly note that books must be purchased in advance for pick up at the event. To secure your copy of The Future of the Art World, visit the Guggenheim Museum website.

GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
The Future of the Art World: A Conversation
Wednesday, January 21, 6:30 PM
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
Buy Tickets.