Ingrid Schaffner, ICA’s Senior Curator, has been with the Institute for ten years, and in that time she’s created many great exhibitions. 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. ICA’s Director, Claudia Gould just announced she is leaving ICA to become the Director of the Jewish Museum in New York, but just in case you’re wondering, Schaffner doesn’t want to be ICA’s or any museum’s director, as she tells us in this podcast, recorded on Aug 3. Schaffner’s work — and her passion — is crafting exhibitions, writing about art and artists, and working with artists.
This episode is edited by Peter Crimmins. The music is by Eric Biondo. The slide show is edited by artblog Intern Alison McMenamin. Thanks to the Knight Foundation for helping us get the ball rolling on this project. Thanks also to J-Lab‘s Enterprise Reporting Fund and William Penn Foundation for additional support and to our partner WHYY NewsWorks for their ongoing support and for sharing artblog radio episodes on the arts & culture page of their community news site NewsWorks.org. You can subscribe to artblog radio on iTunes.
