PULSE Welcomes Katelijne De Backer As New Director

PULSE Contemporary Art Fair is excited to announce the appointment of Katelijne De Backer as Director. After three and a half years at the helm of PULSE, Helen Toomer is resigning to focus on launching an artist residency in upstate New York and developing educational and arts related projects. Toomer will join the PULSE Advisory Committee who, along with the rest of the PULSE team, welcomes Katelijne De Backer as the new Director next month.

"Joining the PULSE team and following in the footsteps of Helen Toomer as Director is a wonderful opportunity to further develop PULSE Miami Beach and the year-round program, PULSE360," says De Backer. "Connecting collectors with galleries at PULSE Miami Beach and engaging them in a larger conversation with a program that extends beyond the busy fair weeks, was a smart and innovative move Helen took. I look forward to using my extensive art fair and gallery experience to continue to improve and develop PULSE, and to working with the extraordinary exhibitors, many of them old friends."

Katelijne De Backer was recently the Director of Art New York and Aqua Art Miami. Prior to that she served as Managing Director for top contemporary art gallery Lehmann Maupin, where she oversaw several teams with locations in New York's Chelsea neighborhood and the Lower East Side as well as in Hong Kong. She spent over a decade as the Executive Director of The Armory Show, where she was instrumental in transforming the bohemian-style fair of 75 galleries to a world-renowned exhibition of more than 200 galleries.

De Backer and PULSE Contemporary Art Fair are looking forward to continuing the growth of PULSE360 and PULSE Miami Beach in the coming months. Helen Toomer joins fellow Advisory Committee members Todd Hosfelt, Founder of Hosfelt Gallery; Alice Gray Stites, Museum Director and Chief Curator, 21c Museum Hotels; and Tarrah von Lintel, Founder and General Partner, Von Lintel Gallery.