Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
Encyclopedia
The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art
museum
located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, USA. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania
, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to exhibiting the innovative art of our time. Since its founding in 1963, ICA has established a reputation for identifying artists of promise who later emerge in the international spotlight. The ICA has exhibited the first museum shows of Andy Warhol
, Laurie Anderson
, Agnes Martin
, and Robert Indiana
. There is no permanent collection at the ICA, but new exhibits are shown three times a year, with 12 shows annually. ICA offers educational programs, artist talks, lectures, films and tours. Recently featured artists include Gillian Wearing
, Yoshitomo Nara
, John Armleder
, Douglas Blau, Robert Crumb
, Kate Gilmore, Barry LeVa, and Odili Donald Odita.
The current modern gallery building was built in 1990 and designed by Adele Naude Santos. Its current Director is Claudia Gould. Ingrid Schaffner
is the current Senior Curator.
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to exhibiting the innovative art of our time. Since its founding in 1963, ICA has established a reputation for identifying artists of promise who later emerge in the international spotlight. The ICA has exhibited the first museum shows of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...
, Agnes Martin
Agnes Martin
Agnes Bernice Martin was an American abstract painter, often referred to as a minimalist; Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist.She won a National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1998....
, and Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana is an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement.-Life and work:Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana. His family relocated to Indianapolis, where he graduated from Arsenal Technical High School...
. There is no permanent collection at the ICA, but new exhibits are shown three times a year, with 12 shows annually. ICA offers educational programs, artist talks, lectures, films and tours. Recently featured artists include Gillian Wearing
Gillian Wearing
Gillian Wearing OBE RA is an English conceptual artist, one of the YBAs, and winner of the annual British fine arts award, The Turner Prize, in 1997. On 11 December 2007, Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London....
, Yoshitomo Nara
Yoshitomo Nara
is a Japanese artist. He currently lives and works in Tokyo, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara received his B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Between 1988 and 1993, Nara studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in Germany. Nara...
, John Armleder
John Armleder
John Armleder as the son of a hotelier , is a Swiss performance artist, painter, sculptor, critic, and curator. His work is based on his involvement with Fluxus in the 1960s and 1970s, when he created performance art pieces, installations and collective art activities that were strongly influenced...
, Douglas Blau, Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
, Kate Gilmore, Barry LeVa, and Odili Donald Odita.
The current modern gallery building was built in 1990 and designed by Adele Naude Santos. Its current Director is Claudia Gould. Ingrid Schaffner
Ingrid Schaffner
Ingrid Schaffner is a curator and writer who has been working in contemporary art since the mid-1980s. Schaffner is known for developing bodies of work around the themes of surrealism, collecting, and photography....
is the current Senior Curator.