Justine Ludwig Named Creative Director of Getty’s PST ART

Getty announced today that Justine Ludwig—who has served in curatorial and institutional leadership roles in Dallas, Cincinnati, and New York—has been named the inaugural creative director of PST ART. Getty’s PST ART is the nation’s largest art event, a collaboration of dozens of cultural, educational, and community-based organizations each presenting thematically linked exhibitions and programs that together explore a major theme in Southern California’s cultural history.

“With PST ART now occurring every five years, we’re delighted to welcome Justine Ludwig to the team that will lead this initiative into the future,” said Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “Collaboration and large-scale vision are the hallmarks of PST ART, and the qualities that Justine has demonstrated throughout her impressive career.”

Most recently, Ludwig served as executive director of Creative Time, the pioneering public arts organization that has realized more than 350 radical public art projects in collaboration with thousands of artists and organizations in New York City, across the country, and around the world. At Creative Time, she developed a new programming space, CTHQ; established the R+D fellowship program that supports artists working in partnership with a wide range of disciplines; and realized projects including Moving Chains, an unprecedented 110-foot-long kinetic sculpture by Los Angeles-based artist Charles Gaines. Previously, Ludwig was deputy director and chief curator of Dallas Contemporary, where she curated exhibitions and oversaw activities in curatorial, social media, marketing, and public relations. From 2008 to 2015, she worked in the curatorial department at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

“I have long admired the ambition and achievements of PST ART, which has transformed Los Angeles’s creative community and reaffirmed LA on the world stage,” said Ludwig. “PST ART offers a unique opportunity to think differently and deeply, empowering the entire community to show the best that art has to offer. It demonstrates how collaboration and collective vision allow for the realization of transformative projects. It’s a great privilege to be able to work with and learn from the vibrant cultural community across Southern California.”

PST ART recently completed its third edition, Art & Science Collide, presenting hundreds of exhibitions, programs, and events throughout Southern California over a five-month period beginning in fall 2024. With the support of $20 million in grants from Getty, more than 70 cultural institutions—ranging from small community-based centers to the region’s largest museums and scientific institutions—participated in this unprecedented exploration of the intersections of art and science—past, present, and in the imaginable future. Prior to Art & Science Collide, previous editions of PST ART included Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA (September 2017–January 2018), a paradigm-shifting examination of Latin American and Latinx art, and Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980 (October 2011–March 2012), a rewriting of the history of the birth and impact of the LA art scene. The first three editions of PST ART were co-created and co-directed by Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation, and Andrew Perchuk, Interim Director of the Getty Research Institute.

“With each edition, PST ART has expanded in its goals and ambitions, so we are excited about the future under Justine’s leadership,” said Weinstein. “She is a champion of the arts, has extensive art historical knowledge and administrative experience, and is a true collaborator. I know she will bring these skills and more to PST ART.”

Ludwig joins a staff of PST ART that includes Zachary Kaplan, head of programming for the most recent edition of PST ART and former executive director of Rhizome, and Tina Lee, project manager, who earlier in her career worked in exhibitions and publications at the Seattle Art Museum.

“I am thrilled to hear that Getty has appointed Justine as the creative director of PST ART,” said Charles Gaines. “I have collaborated with Justine over the last several years on my work, Moving Chains, a very large and complex outdoor sculpture first installed on Governors Island in New York and scheduled to travel to Cincinnati. I learned firsthand while working with Justine what all of LA will soon discover—that she is an extremely gifted individual who is also a total joy to work with.”