Ingrid Schaffner came to Philadelphia ten years ago as an adjunct curator at ICA. She’s now the Senior Curator at the kunsthalle, with a passel of exhibits under her belt. Schaffner has a an easy smile, a ready laugh, and an interest in the absurd, from Dali and Dada to more contemporary artists like Richard Artschwager, for whom she worked as an archivist, pre-Philadelphia. The curator is an art omnivore whose shows range from conceptual artists Barry Le Va and Karen Kilimnik to the whimsical Maira Kalman. She also organized the Puppet Show, about the influence of puppetry in art, and Queer Voice, about the role of the “queered” or distorted voice in contemporary art. Her fall show, opening Sept. 7, is Bill Walton’s Studio, in which the late Philadelphia artist’s studio will be recreated in ICA’s Project Space. Ingrid, who grew up in Pittsburgh, co-founded a zine in the 1990s, Pink. In this podcast sample below, she talks about the show Locally Localized Gravity and the role of ICA in creating dialog. Listen to the entire episode next Monday.
