ICA Director: Claudia Gould

Claudia Gould, who has been executive director of the New York gallery Artists Space since 1994, took office earlier this month as director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at Penn. She succeeds Patrick Murphy, who is now exhibitions director at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin.

"Claudia Gould is exactly the person we need to lead the ICA," said Provost Robert L. Barchi, who announced the selection following an international search. "She has keen insight and a deep background into the contemporary art scene and is enormously creative, energetic and articulate. She also demonstrated excellent financial management skills at Artists Space. It is her unique blend of creative and management expertise that made her the perfect choice for the ICA."

The Director of the ICA sets its artistic direction and supervises its operations. These responsibilities include oversight of all exhibitions, financial and personnel management, fundraising and the academic interface with undergraduate and graduate education at Penn.

At Artists Space, an alternative exhibition space and artist service organization dedicated to emerging artists in all mediums, Ms. Gould was noted for turning the organization around both financially and programmatically, Dr. Barchi said--eliminating a deficit, establishing an endowment fund and increasing the funding base while at the same time establishing grants to artists, establishing an Artists Space newspaper, developing new project spaces and co-editing a 350-page publication, 5000 Artists Return to Artists Space--25 Years.

Ms. Gould, who holds a B.A. in Art History from Boston College and a Masters in Museum Studies from NYU, served as curator and project director for the Kawamata Project on Roosevelt Island in 1992 and the Music Box Project in 1994. She also spent three years as curator of exhibitions at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, and was the curator for a collaborative building project with artist Vito Acconci and architect Steven Holl at Storefront for Art and Architecture.

Almanac, Vol. 46, No. 5, September 28, 1999

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