Walker Art Center is bringing back former curator Philippe Vergne in September to be the museum's deputy director and chief curator.
Walker director Kathy Halbreich said Vergne's return will provide continuity for the staff and programs as the museum adjusts to its recent $70 million expansion.
Vergne will replace Richard Flood, who is moving to New York to be chief curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Before he left in April to become director of a new contemporary art museum outside Paris, Vergne had been senior curator at the Walker since 1997.
"It is not like I am coming home. I'm going back to a place I will rediscover," Vergne, 39, said by phone. "Just like why I came back to France -- it's a chance to invent something new."
The Paris project imploded after the French failed to remove an industrial dump surrounding the museum site. Plans call for the museum to move to Venice.
In 2004, Vergne was honored in France with the medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, which recognizes distinctive contributions to art and literature.
"Here is a man who could have chosen to live anywhere, and he chose to come home," Halbreich said. "It's never happened before that anyone's walked back in the door, but it's a very special set of circumstances, and myself and Philippe and the Walker are all winners."
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
