Guggenheim Foundation Director Thomas Krens Steps Down

NEW YORK—Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation director Thomas Krens is stepping down after 20 years in the position, the New York Times reports. Krens will stay at the foundation as a senior adviser for international affairs, overseeing the development of the Guggenheim's 452,000-square-foot, Frank Gehry-designed outpost in Abu Dhabi. The foundation said Krens will stay until it finds a replacement. When it does find a successor, the foundation will revert back to the management structure under which it operated until 2005, in which the foundation director also ran the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and its satellites. (Between 2005 and 2007, when she stepped down, Lisa Dennison led the New York museum, while Krens continued to direct the foundation; a replacement for Dennison has not yet been found.) Jennifer Stockman, president of the Guggenheim's board of directors, said Krens and the board decided it was the right time for him to step down. "The museum is in a strong position to move on," she said.

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany—German sporting goods maker Puma AG has hired Hussein Chalayan as its new creative director, and it also has acquired a major stake in the British fashion designer's brand, Bloomberg reports. Chalayan, named twice the British Fashion Council's "Designer of the Year," will be in charge of the creative aspects of Puma's collection, including designing shoes, clothing, and accessories.

BEIJING—The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, which opened last fall, has chosen Jerome Sans as its director. Sans, who takes over the position on March 1, served as outside curator for the Institute of Visual Arts in Milwaukee from 1996 to 2003. Before that he served as co-director of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. He is currently the director of programs at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England.

NEW YORK—Art in General has appointed Eva Diaz as its new curator. Diaz, who joins the alternative art space on March 7, is currently a curator, art historian, and art critic who is also on the faculty of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. She has written for Modern Painters, Time Out New York, and Art in America.