Ylva Rouse
Senior Curator
Ylva Rouse joined MOCA in May 2019 from New Orleans, where she moved in 2007 to launch Prospect.1, the citywide international arts triennial founded by Dan Cameron in order to bring positive attention to New Orleans following hurricane Katrina. She served as the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs for the organization until 2017, when she would lead the implementation of its fourth edition, Prospect.4. as Interim Director. Prior to her tenure at Prospect, Rouse worked as Curator in Madrid, Spain, working with artists such as John M. Armleder, Jenny Holzer, Liam Gillick, Alex Katz, or Tatsuo Miyajima. During her years as Exhibitions Curator at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, she organized touring retrospectives of work by among others Robert Ryman, Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, Richard Serra and Joan Miró, as well as serving as Project Director for the seminal exhibitions El Jardin Salvaje (The Savage Garden) at the Caixa Foundation and Cocido y Crudo (The Cooked and the Raw) at the Reina Sofia Museum. Rouse holds a B.A. in Music and Art, and Master Studies, from New York University.
With the firm belief in art as a force for change, she has been active throughout her career curating and writing about art. She has immersed herself in the communities where she has lived, both as advisor and collaborator, participating in diverse arts projects and initiatives with local organizations, community centers, and universities; always in pursuit of spreading the understanding and enjoyment of the modern and contemporary arts and to bring awareness of the importance of nurturing the creative spirit, both as individuals and as community.