Since 2014, Karen Levitov has served as director and curator of the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts. Under her leadership, the gallery has emphasized its dual function as an exhibition space and an educational resource for students and the broader community.
Levitov describes her approach as “curatorial activism,” shaped by early experiences in museums and influenced by mentors who encouraged her to see curating as a form of advocacy. “Curating is about more than selecting and arranging works in a space,” she said. “There are years of research and collaboration that go into it. Curating can shape ideas, bring different artists’ work to light, and help define the narrative we share with audiences.”
She emphasizes that research is fundamental to curatorial practice, noting that preparing an exhibition often requires years of investigation. “Most people don’t realize that exhibitions take years to plan,” Levitov explained. “Even shorter projects can involve two or three years of research, writing, and collaboration before a single artwork is installed.”
An example is Revisiting 5+1 (2022–2023), which examined a 1969 Stony Brook exhibition featuring Black abstract artists. Levitov worked with PhD-candidate curators, Thaw Professor Katy Siegel, Distinguished Professor Howardena Pindell, and external partners such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Frank Bowling Studio and Archive. The project involved reconstructing archives to honor both the original show and overlooked women artists from that era.
“The research for Revisiting 5+1 helped us uncover forgotten histories,” Levitov reflected. “It revealed how a university gallery can play a vital role in preserving and retelling stories that might otherwise disappear.”
In 2025, Levitov oversaw Weaving Words, Weaving Worlds, curated by Shinnecock artist Jeremy Dennis. This exhibition explored connections between Indigenous language and contemporary art while linking with Stony Brook’s Algonquian Language Revitalization Project and Native American and Indigenous Studies minor programs. In her foreword to the exhibition catalogue, Levitov wrote: “A core part of lived history and experience is language. This exhibition affirms Indigenous sovereignty, history, and experience through art and collaboration.”
Education remains central to the gallery’s mission under Levitov’s direction. She described collaborations with faculty from departments including anthropology, creative writing, and social work to design tours or programs tied to their courses: “Our educational mission is crucial,” she said. “We collaborate with faculty across departments — from anthropology to creative writing to social work — to craft tours and programs that connect their courses to the art on view.” These efforts aim to create learning experiences connecting artistic practice with academic disciplines.
Levitov also teaches a Gallery Management Workshop for students interested in museum careers: “I want them to understand that what they see on the walls is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “Behind it are years of research, problem-solving, and collaboration. I think of it as creative problem solving; it’s about taking an idea and figuring out how to bring it to life.”
Her vision for the gallery includes fostering public engagement on themes such as equity, identity, storytelling, visual representation, archival scholarship, cross-disciplinary collaboration—and ensuring challenging works are contextualized for deeper understanding: “When people know something about the artwork and the artist, things that might seem challenging or controversial take on meaning,” she said. “They become learning tools and pathways to understanding.”
Looking ahead at Zuccaire Gallery’s future direction at Stony Brook University (https://zuccairegallery.stonybrook.edu/), Levitov sees opportunities for new partnerships integrating art with technology studies, ecology research initiatives or language revitalization efforts: “I think university galleries have a unique freedom,” she said. “We can take risks, explore complex ideas, and work collaboratively with faculty, students, and artists to expand the boundaries of what an exhibition can be.”
The Zuccaire Gallery continues its focus on combining art presentation with scholarly inquiry—demonstrating how campus galleries contribute both culturally and academically within universities.
