The Institute of Contemporary Art, which is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia announced that its next director will be Johanna Burton, the current director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Burton took over the ICA director from Zoë Ryan, who left the institution to lead the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in January. She will take on a new role starting November 1.
Burton’s transfer from MOCA to ICA Philadelphia (ICA Philadelphia) is somewhat unusual because it is a smaller institution, the sixth largest city in the United States rather than the second largest city. In a statement, Burton described the ICA as a long history “followed by a beacon that improves emerging, adventurous and rigorous experimentality – I have long admired its role as a community host and hub for global discourse.”
She continued: “In many ways, this appointment brought me back to the kind of institution that first shaped my curatorial and academic sensitivity, a focused but influential arts innovation center for arts innovation in the teaching environment. Taking this position at the ICA at a time of the possibility of institutional and cultural influence, institutional and cultural influence is a profound honor.”
Burton joined MOCA in November 2021 after three years as executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. She is going to work with Klaus Biesenbach, who was once the director of the museum. The board decided to divide the directorship into two roles: executive director and artistic director, with Biesenbach serving as the latter. But Biesenbach, who had worked for MOCA for two years, announced that Burton had left the agency a week after he announced his recruitment, leaving the two agencies in Berlin.
When she officially started, Burton earned the title of director, working to stabilize the museum’s show, still recovering from the sacking of chief curator Helen Molesworth and subsequently amid the departure of its director Philippe Vergne in 2018.
During his tenure, Burton stabilized the museum. After three years of vacation, she brought back the annual party in 2022, and over the past four years she has raised about $3 million a year. She also helped receive a $1 million gift from the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation and launched for its Art Education program and the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environmental and Art Awards, a biennial artist award with $100,000.
Last summer, Moca teamed up with the Hammer and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to share about 260 pieces Artnews Jarl and Pamela Mohn, the top 200 collectors of the newly formed MAC3 series. In addition, she hired Clara Kim, senior curator of London Tate Modern as the chief curator.
Last July, the MOCA board announced a leadership transition with President Carolyn Clark Powers as chairman of the board, and Tim Disney joined in 2022 and was appointed as the new president.
“My time at MOCA and Los Angeles made a lot of meaning,” Burton added in the statement. “I am proud of the institutional growth during my tenure – possible due to close collaboration and shared purposes with the board and staff. Partnerships and friendships – the most satisfying of my career during this time was the most satisfying of my career and will continue to impact my spirit.”
In a statement, ICA Philadelphia Board Chairman Mark W.
