The three curators at the Whitney Museum of Art make up one of the most respected curatorial teams at present: Donna De Salvo, named the Whitney’s first chief curator and associate director for programmes in 2006, Shamim M. Momin, associate curator at the Whitney and branch director and curator of its Altria offsite space, and Chrissie Iles, who has been a curator at the Whitney since 1997, and who is widely praised for her efforts in building the museum’s collection of artists’ film.

This year’s successes at the Whitney have included emerging names such as Mark Grotjahn and Terence Koh (his first American museum show, curated by Iles), as well as stars such as Gordon Matta Clark, Edward Hopper and Rudolf Stingel (described by Roberta Smith as ‘the best-looking’ show she had ever seen at the Whitney). The next 12 months look equally good. First up is De Salvo’s retrospective of Lawrence Weiner, opening this month, while the 2008 Whitney Biennial, curated by Henriette Huldisch together with Momin, will again be one of the big events in the art calendar. With a focus on recent American art, it’s primed to send waves through every aspect of the contemporary artworld.