Kolleen Ku

Kolleen Ku is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU focussing on global modern and contemporary art. Her dissertation project explores the convergence of modernist abstraction, Asian racialization, and alien citizenship through the work of East Asian diasporic artists in the early twentieth-century United States.

Originally from Hong Kong, Kolleen received her B.A. from Columbia University in Art History and English in 2016. Prior to her doctoral studies, Kolleen worked in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and held curatorial internships at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Dedicated art historian and arts professional with curatorial, teaching, and administrative experience.

The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

Ph.D. Candidate, Art History, 2020-present