For Immediate Release
Contact: Amy Day
Tel: 515.271.0344 (o)
515.612.0775 (c)
aday@desmoinesartcenter.org
DES MOINES, IOWA (November 2025) – Des Moines Art Center Associate Curator Dr. Ashton Cooper has been named a 2025 Étant Donnés Contemporary Art Curatorial Fellow, one of only three curators nationwide — and the only from the Midwest — to receive this award.
Offered in partnership with the Albertine Foundation, Villa Albertine, and Independent Curators International, this fellowship supports American curators conducting research on French visual art. The fellowship included a $3,000 travel grant that enabled Dr. Cooper to conduct research on video artists currently working in Paris who explore French colonial histories through time-based media. Building on this research, Dr. Cooper is planning a first-of-its-kind series of solo exhibitions featuring French video artists for the Art Center’s Pamela Bass-Bookey and Harry Bookey Video Gallery, titled Avant d’oublier: Video Art from Paris, planned for 2026-2027.
“Receiving the Étant Donnés fellowship is an incredible opportunity to explore and gain a deeper understanding of the contemporary artists working in Paris and to exchange ideas with my curatorial colleagues there,” said Dr. Cooper. “With the support of this grant, I have been able to meet with other curators with extensive experience in my research area, view artists’ work in person, and connect directly with artists whose work I hope to exhibit in Des Moines. Ultimately, these experiences will allow our visitors to experience the vibrancy of Paris’s art scene in a new and meaningful way.”
“We are thrilled that Dr. Cooper has been selected for this prestigious fellowship,” said Dr. Kelly Baum, John and Mary Pappajohn Director and CEO of the Art Center. “Her work on this project reflects our strategic priority to ‘Bring the World to Iowa, and Iowa to the World.’ The Art Center is part of a vibrant, cultural, social, and economic ecosystem that connects our city to the broader world. By bringing contemporary video art from Paris to Des Moines, this project will allow our community to travel the globe without leaving the city, experiencing the remarkable work of French artists completely free of charge thanks to our free admission policy. At the same time, it lays the groundwork for future international collaborations that will continue to enrich and inspire our audiences for years to come.”
Dr. Cooper joined the Des Moines Art Center as Associate Curator in October 2024, after previous positions at the Hammer Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and the Getty Research Institute, all in Los Angeles. Cooper earned a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Southern California and B.A. in Art History from Barnard College.
About the Des Moines Art Center
Founded in 1948, the Des Moines Art Center is a vibrant, AAM-accredited (American Alliance of Museums) institution located in the capital city of Iowa that welcomes nearly 350,000 visitors annually from across the country and around the globe. The Art Center is proud to offer free admission to its galleries, programs, and sculpture park for all visitors. Our historic campus consists of three buildings designed by major architects of the 20th century — Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Richard Meier — incorporated into the natural landscape of Greenwood Park. The largest art museum in the Greater Des Moines metro and one of the few in the state, the Art Center is home to one of the strongest collections of 20th- and 21st-century art in the region, and it hosts a series of ground-breaking exhibitions and lectures each year featuring artists known regionally, nationally, and internationally. The experimental art for which the Art Center cares is reflected in its creative offerings, including a celebrated education program that prioritizes access and collaboration, an art school with studio classes for all ages, and the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, situated on 4.4 acres in downtown Des Moines.
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