Anne Ellegood | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966 or 1967 (age 58–59)[1] Portland, Oregon, U.S.[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Museum director and curator |
| Employer | Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (since 2019) |
Anne Ellegood (born 1966 or 1967) is an American curator and museum director who is the executive director of theInstitute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Ellegood joined theHammer Museum in Los Angeles as a curator in 2009, and embarked on projects including the museum's "Made in L.A." biennials in 2012 and 2018 (both collaborations) and a controversial retrospective onJimmie Durham in 2017. She assumed her current position in 2019.
After graduating from theUniversity of Colorado Boulder, where she studiedwomen's studies, Ellegood worked at a women'sreproductive health clinic for several years.[2] During those years, she freelanced as an assistant for an independent art curator, which led her to pursue a career in curatorial practice. She undertook graduate studies at theCenter for Curatorial Studies at New York'sBard College,[2] graduating in 1998.[3]
After completing the program at Bard College, Ellegood was a curator at theNew Museum for five years and then acted as the local curator in New York for art collectorPeter Norton. She took a role at theHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. in 2005.[1][2] She would consider the first mentor in her curatorial career, New Museum founderMarcia Tucker, the most influential.[2]
On invitation by its director,Ann Philbin, Ellegood joined theUniversity of California, Los Angeles–affiliatedHammer Museum.[2] She started as a curator in 2009.[4] For the 2011Venice Biennale, she organized artistHany Armanious' exhibition for theAustralian pavilion.[5] The following year, a team of Hammer Museum and LAXART curators, including Ellegood, organized the museum's inaugural "Made in L.A." biennial, which featured work by 60 Los Angeles artists in museums and spaces throughout the city.[6][7] In 2014, she and art historianJohanna Burton organized the exhibition "Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology",[8][9] which the museum described as "the first large-scale exhibition to focus on the intersection of two vitally important genres of contemporary art:appropriation [...] andinstitutional critique".[10]
A 2017retrospective exhibition organized by Ellegood on artistJimmie Durham opened at the Hammer Museum andtraveled to theWalker Art Center inMinneapolis, theWhitney Museum in New York City, andRemai Modern inSaskatoon, Canada. Although it garnered critical attention, the exhibition attracted controversy regarding his self-identification asCherokee.[a][12][13][14] In response to criticism of the show, such as an editorial inIndian Country Today, she wrote inArtnet News that the family history information provided by his critics was "incomplete and limited" and was critical ofbinary thinking on the matter.[15][11][16] Earlier, Ellegood worked on a proposal with Durham and artistSam Durant for theAmerican pavilion at the 2007Venice Biennale, but Durham withdrew from consideration because he felt problems would arise from his lack of tribal enrollment.[16]
In 2018, Ellegood was one of thirty curators, museum directors, and art world figures who signed an open letter to theNew York Times in support of the politically-outspoken directorLaura Raicovich [Wikidata] upon her resignation from theQueens Museum.[17] Shortly after, the museum held the fourth iteration of the "Made in L.A." biennial, which was curated byErin Christovale and Ellegood.[18] The curators showcased 32 artists of a "diverse group, both demographically as well as in the type of work they are making", according toArtnet News, and tried to avoid a focus on works that responded to the actions of theDonald Trump administration.[19]
TheInstitute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) and the Hammer Museum jointly hosted the exhibitionWitch Hunt leading up to the2020 U.S. presidential election. Organized by the institutions' respective curators,Connie Butler and Ellegood, the exhibition includes fifteen mid-career women artists.[20][21] TheARTnews reviewer found: "Using the witch hunt as a framework... [the curators] implied that there is something witchy about the women artists represented here, that they may bring to light certain truths that could trigger mobs."[21] At the 2020 iteration of theArmory Show, an international art show in New York City, Ellegood led one of three curated sections, "Platform".[22][23]
Following the retirement of executive directorElsa Longhauser, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, appointed Ellegood to lead the museum in 2019.[4] Museum administrators and curators Apsara DiQuinzio,Rita Gonzalez and Ellegood were noted to be part of a "core group" in the development of theFeminist Art Coalition, which was announced in late 2019.[24] In 2024, the museum announced plans to purchase its building in theArts District and an expansion which would include a café and space and studios for itsartists-in-residence.[25][26]
The New York Times reported that Ellegood was a candidate for director of the Hammer Museum with Philbin's departure in 2024; the position was ultimately filled byICA Philadelphia directorZoë Ryan.[27]
...organized the North American retrospective of the artist Jimmie Durham, which was critically acclaimed despite controversy over his claims of Cherokee ancestry.
Ellegood was widely known to have been a candidate for the Philbin position...
