(Boston, MA—July 29, 2022)—The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) announces the promotion of Ruth Erickson to Mannion Family Senior Curator. In her new position, Erickson will take an expanded role developing the curatorial vision for the ICA’s exhibition and collection program as well as shaping conversations around community partnerships.  

 “I am thrilled to announce Ruth’s promotion to Mannion Family Senior Curator at the ICA,” said Eva Respini, the ICA’s Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Barbara Lee Chief Curator. “This new role recognizes Ruth’s extraordinary work and leadership on our curatorial team, including an impressive—and ongoing—run of exhibitions and continued oversight of the museum’s growing collection.”

Erickson’s upcoming exhibitions for the ICA include the major October exhibition To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood, the first thematic group exhibition in the U.S. to explore the influence of children and childhood on the practice of visual artists, and a new commission by Barbara Kruger for the museum’s Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall opening in November. Her group exhibition Revival: Materials and Monumental Forms is currently on view at the ICA Watershed, the museum’s project space in East Boston.

After serving as a Research Fellow for Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-57 and receiving her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania, Erickson joined the museum as Assistant Curator in 2014 and was promoted to Associate Curator in 2016 and Mannion Family Curator in 2017. In her time at the ICA, Erickson has organized 18 exhibitions, including the major thematic group exhibition When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art (2019), a significant artist survey and publication Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist, as well as solo artist presentations of Vivian Suter (2021), Wangechi Mutu (2018) Kevin Beasley (2018), Ethan Murrow (2015), and the trio Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian (2015). She additionally contributes to growing the ICA’s collection, coordinating the Collections and Exhibitions Committee, and overseeing the digitization of the collection. In 2021, Erickson was a fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership.

About the ICA/Boston

Since its founding in 1936, the ICA has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with its audiences. A museum at the intersection of contemporary art and civic life, the ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and expanding the museum’s role as educator, incubator, and convener. Its exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA, 02210. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at icaboston.org. Follow the ICA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.   

Media contact: Margaux Leonard, press@icaboston.org