Vesela Sretenović

Vesela Sretenović is a curator of modern and contemporary art with special interests in cross-disciplinary art practices and in bridging theoretical knowledge with hands-on experience. During more than a decade at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., she served as senior curator of modern and contemporary art and then as director of contemporary art initiatives and academic affairs. While at The Phillips, she initiated and oversaw a series of ongoing art projects called Intersections, which invited contemporary artists from around the world—both emerging and established—to engage with the museum’s permanent collection and architecture and create new work. In addition, Vesela organized monographic exhibitions of prominent artists including Robert Ryman and Ellsworth Kelly, as well as the first museum retrospective of Cuban artist Zilia Sanchez.

She is currently working on independent curatorial projects, including a group exhibition for the Georgetown University Art Galleries called “Around the Table,” centered on the theme of food as a metaphor for shared human experience and for coming together over differences; and another for the Grey Gallery at New York University entitled “Anonymous Was a Woman: The First 25 Years.” Since 2024, she is also visiting faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCUarts).

Prior to moving to Washington D.C., Vesela was a curator at Brown University’s Bell Gallery and taught contemporary art and art theory at the Rhode Island School of Design. Earlier in her career, she worked for the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She holds a BA in Art History from University of Belgrade, Former Yugoslavia, an MA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Doctoral degree in Humanities from Syracuse University.