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Claire Tancons


Claire Tancons (b. 1977) is a curator, critic, and historian of art. She was born in Guadeloupe and is based in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Following a background in history at Lycée Henri-IV's Hypochartes (preparatory course for the École des Chartes, one of France's "Grandes Écoles"), Tancons completed a BA in History of Art (1998) and MA in Museum Studies (1999) at the École du Louvre in Paris, and in 2000 received an MA in History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She was a Helena Rubenstein Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program in New York City from 2000-2001.

In her early years in New York City, following the Whitney fellowship, Tancons worked as a personal assistant and curatorial research assistant for artist Coco Fusco on the landmark exhibition Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self (2003). She also became involved with Lorna Simpson, with the artist featuring Tancons in her video work 31 (2002). She subsequently did a one-year curatorial fellowship at the Walker Art Center, where she assisted with the major exhibition How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age, curated by Philippe Vergne, Douglas Fogle, and Kemi Ilesanmi.

Increasingly interested in performance art, Tancons curated the first solo exhibitions in New York City for South African artist Robin Rhode and choreographer Ralph Lemon, both of whom she met while at the Walker Art Center: Robin Rhode: The Score (Artists Space, New York City, 2004), and Ralph Lemon: (The efflorescence of) Walter (The Kitchen, New York City, 2007), co-curated with Anthony Allen and later traveling in expanded form to the Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans). During this time, Tancons also did a brief stint at Paula Cooper Gallery, where she curated the Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky) exhibition Path is Prologue (2004), based on his multimedia performance piece DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation.


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