staff + founders

john ros
founding director + curator

sam ros
curatorial assistant

barb abulashvili
guest assistant — programs

john ros is a brooklyn-based, multiform conceptual installation artist. they obtained an mfa from brooklyn college, city university of new york, and a bfa from the state university of new york at binghamton.

john is currently the director and a professor at studioELL, an alternative, transient and hybrid space for higher education in studio art, which they founded in 2015. they are also a lecturer at the school of the museum of fine art at tufts university (boston, ma), ct state: quinebaug valley (danielson, ct), and in the first year program at parsons school of design, the new school (new york, ny).

from 2017-2019 john served as director and chief curator of duke hall gallery of fine art at james madison university (harrisonburg, va), where they also served as an assistant professor of art. in 2008 they founded galleryELL, (brooklyn, ny) where they served as director and chief curator for eight years until its close in 2016. john has over 17 years experience in higher education and 24 years experience curating exhibitions and developing community programming.

rose van mierlo
founding director, curator | 2020-2022

rose van mierlo is an independent international critic, curator, and lecturer. she was a critical writing fellow at lokaal 01 (belgium, 2011), a post-academic fellow at dna/gemak (the netherlands, 2011), and a research assistant to the senior curator collections and research at the dutch photography museum (the netherlands, 2011). after completing a masters in contemporary art theory (goldsmiths university of london, 2015), she curated for swiss cottage gallery (london, 2017) and the boulder museum of contemporary art, amongst others. she is currently a part-time lecturer in art theory and criticism at metropolitan state university (denver, usa) and a director of the squareworks:lab fellowship (mumbai, india).

rose’s current scholarly research and curatorial practice are invested in modern and contemporary visual culture and art history, with a particular focus on methodologies of fiction in relation to gender, politics and public space. this interest expands into the fields of film and media theory, critical theory, institutional critique, race and post-colonialism, and the feminist avant-garde.