Orianna Cacchione’s curatorial practice is committed to expanding the canon of contemporary art to respond to the global circulations of art and ideas. She, alongside WU Hung, Smart Museum Adjunct Curator and Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, curated the exhibition The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China. Also at the Smart Museum, Cacchione curated the exhibitions Samson Young: Silver Moon or Golden Star, Which Will You Buy of Me? and Tang Chang: The Painting that is Painted with Poetry is Profoundly Beautiful, the first solo presentation of the pioneering abstract artist’s work outside of Thailand. Prior to joining the Smart Museum, Cacchione was Curatorial Fellow for East Asian Contemporary Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was responsible for expanding the museum’s collection of contemporary art from East Asia. Her work led to transformative acquisitions of artworks from China, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. She also curated the exhibition, Zhang Peili: Record. Repeat., the first major presentation of the Chinese video artist at an American museum.
Cacchione’s scholarly research explores the transnational, cross-geographic flows of art and art history that characterize the global art world. She holds a PhD in art history, theory, and criticism from the University of California, San Diego. Her writing has been published in The Journal of Art Historiography, Yishu, and the Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art.