As Gould prepares to leave Philly to direct The Jewish Museum in New York City, Street collaborates with the curator’s colleagues: Ingrid Schaffner, Robert Chaney, Kathryn Kraczon and Rachel Pastan. Sifting through 12 years of awesome, we've picked out the director’s five most influential contributions since gracing the ICA in 1999.
1. From Lisa Yuskavage to Stefan Sagmeister, Gould has presented works by artists that her colleagues claim are far ahead of the curve. By opening up the program with exhibitions of architecture, design, fashion and visual culture at large, Gould energized the ICA’s mission: to present the “art of our time” through a variety of lenses that continually embrace a lack of conventionality.
2. Gould strengthened the bond between the ICA and Penn by helping to create two year–long seminars: “Contemporary Art and the Art of Curating,” in collaboration with the Department of Art History, and “Writing Through Contemporary Art,” with the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing.
3. The director is committed to invigorating the local arts scene, promoting projects such as "Locally Localized Gravity" in 2007, a 10–week exhibition/program of events dedicated to the idea of artists–as–producers. Inspired by the creativity that our fine city embodies, "Locally Localized Gravity" invited over 100 artists, musicians, lecturers, writers and others of varying creative dispositions to use the ICA as their home base, giving them a chance to exhibit and perform.
4. After raising the ICA’s budget from $1 million to $3.1 million, Gould managed to expand the exhibition program as well as the staff. Gould’s colleagues commend the director’s development of a “strong board of overseers,” a group of 26 members “who champion the role of contemporary art as part of the cultural life at Penn.”
5. Envisioning the ICA as, in the words of her associates, “a hub of campus activity,” the director has initiated the creation of a Milanese–style coffee bar in the lobby of the gallery. In collaboration with a Philadelphian coffee company, La Colombe, the soon–to–be newest addition to the Institute further confirms Gould’s dedication to our favorite city.
