Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time and it all clicks. For Theresa Papanikolas, "it was really an offer I couldn't refuse."

After a two-year curatorial fellowship at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA, she was in the market for a job. And she got one here in Hawai'i — as curator of European and American art at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Born in 1964 and raised in Tucson, Ariz., Papanikolas received her master of fine arts degree and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Delaware in 1999. She worked in Houston at the Contemporary Arts Museum and as a faculty member at Rice University.

A specialist in Dada and surrealism, she has fresh ideas and new contexts to bring to light. They include many of the treasures in the academy's collections that haven't been exhibited before.

Q. What are your values as a curator?

A. To present art in a challenging and unexpected way, and to shift the way we think about art. I think it's important to remind the audience that it's more than just a beautiful object: it has a context, a meaning. It resonates with our sensibilities and tastes and opinions for a reason. It might resonate in an uncomfortable way or in a challenging way, but it does that for a reason.

Q. Can you tell us about the publication of your upcoming books?

A. The first one is called "Doctrinal Nourishment: Art and Anarchism in the time of James Ensor." It is a belated exhibition catalog for the James Ensor exhibition of his prints and works by artists that influenced him or he influenced that I organized for LACMA, and it will come out in the spring of 2009. The second book will come out later in 2009, or early 2010, and is based on my doctoral dissertation. "The Cultural Politics of Paris Dada: Anarchism between the Wars" it's a more specialized scholarly publication. As you can tell, I like art and politics.

Q. The James Ensor print "Doctrinal Nourishment" seems a little racy. Do you think the audience in Hawai'i will be as excited about his work as you are?

A. First, let me describe it. The work is a hand-colored etching, done in 1889, of officials in the Belgian government, at the height of extreme political instability in Belgium. It pictures the king and his magistrates defecating into the open mouths of the public down below them. It's just a brilliant example of political satire, a hilarious print. It also speaks to Ensor's anarchist views. It was on view at LACMA in the spring/summer of 2008, and the Getty when they acquired it in 2006, and not a single comment was raised about it ...

In Honolulu, from what I've seen so far, I think even though the audience is more conservative, they would respond well to the prints, too. I think you have to challenge your audience in a smart way ... not an in-your-face way. It's not just cheesecake or scatological imagery for its own sake; in the case of the Ensor, it's something worth looking at.

Often, the most meaningful art experiences are the ones that challenge us the most, that make us most uncomfortable, because that's what makes us think.

Q. What are your re-installation plans for the museum?

A. In terms of the European galleries, I plan to make significant changes — emphasizing more 19th- to early-20th-century work, less decorative arts. The East-West galleries need serious revision, and all of that will be something that is on my plate for the first couple of years that I am here.

Q. LACMA did a lot to change the relationship to local arts and artists. Do you have plans to do the same?

A. We are planning a major survey and tour of Masami Teraoka's work for the spring of 2010. Masami is already deeply engaged in the project. In terms of local artists, we have our Artists of Hawaii coming up in 2009. That's an important function of the academy. I'm the new kid in town, so I'm very anxious to get to know the local artists and develop projects with them.

Victoria Gail-White has been writing about art for The Advertiser since 2001.