The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London is swelling its ranks. The German artist Wolfgang Tillmans, the Russian collector Delya Allakhverdova and the Lebanese patron Maria Sukkar have been elected to the ICA council, the institution’s main governing body.
The trio join a ten-strong board, currently chaired by Donald A. Moore, the former chair of Morgan Stanley Group Europe. Moore was elected last October, taking over from Alison Myners who stepped down after six years of service.
Other ICA departments are also growing. The graphic designer Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey, one half of the artist duo Dexter Sinister, is taking on the role of head of design, while Daryoush Haj-Najafi has been appointed head of communications. The new additions follow the appointments of Katharine Stout as deputy director in April and Richard Birkett as chief curator in May. Stefan Kalmár joined the ICA as director in January, succeeding Gregor Muir, who is credited with salvaging the institution during his six-year tenure. German-born Kalmár came from Artists Space in New York.
Further building on transatlantic relations, the public institution is launching The American Friends of the ICA. Its founding members are Ronnie Sassoon, widow of hair stylist Vidal Sassoon; the art adviser Eleanor Cayre; artist Liam Gillick; and the husband-and-wife collectors Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner.
“These new appointments align with my ambition to make the ICA a truly progressive and radical contemporary arts organisation ready of the 21st century. Seventy years on, this need is felt more acutely than ever,” Kalmár says.