The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Nominate-best-2010

Curatorial rivalry between MFA and ICA heats up with new appointment


Jen Mergel

Museum hot seats

Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts announced today that it has lured away the most senior curator at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. It could signal a major curatorial rivalry brewing between the two institutions — which would only be good for Boston’s art audience.

Jen Mergel, associate curator at the ICA, has been named the Beal Family Senior Curator of Contemporary at the MFA. The Boston native and Harvard grad is expected to begin work at the MFA in February.

Mergel’s departure from the ICA, where she’s worked since 2005, follows the departure of ICA chief curator Nicholas Baume in September to become director of New York’s Public Art Fund. This leaves the ICA with just one curator — assistant curator and former Phoenix contributor Randi Hopkins, who joined the ICA last fall, as well as curatorial associate Bridget Hanson. The ICA’s curatorial staff has completely turned over since it moved into its new building in December 2006.

Mergel would seem to have been next in line for Baume’s job. Perhaps that job wasn’t available to her, but her move to the MFA suggests that she sees a lot of potential at the venerable old museum, which has a reputation for giving contemporary art short shrift.

The MFA has rarely given its curators the space or backing to present shows as ambitious as the ICA’s 2008 Tara Donovan retrospective, which Mergel co-curated with Baume. But the MFA plans to devote its 23,000-square-foot West Wing (also known as the Linde Family Wing) to modern and contemporary art as part of its current renovation and expansion, the main phase of which is scheduled to open next November. Not all of the West Wing will be galleries, but this is expected to give the MFA at least as much space for art of the past century as the some 18,000 square feet devoted to galleries at the ICA.

The release says, “Mergel will work with [Department of Contemporary Art and MFA Programs Chairman Edward] Saywell on the development, planning, and organization of the Museum’s new galleries in the Linde Family Wing, scheduled to open as the MFA’s center for contemporary art in June 2011.”

The new gallery space, the appointment of Mergel, and Saywell himself all could be signs that the MFA aims to give the ICA a run for its money. The MFA promoted Edward Saywell to the newly created position — also known as director of the West Wing — in September 2007.

But Mergel fills the shoes of Cheryl Brutvan, who arrived with similar hopes for new exciting things at the MFA. They didn’t really pan out, as Brutvan ended up mainly focusing on smallish exhibitions in the West Wing’s Foster Gallery. She announced in July 2008 that she would be leaving the MFA, apparently without another job lined up. In January, she become curator of contemporary art at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Will this time be different?

  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article

Leave a Comment

Login | Not a member yet? Click here to Join

(required)  
(optional)
(required)  
Follow the Phoenix
  • newsletter
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • youtube
  • rss
All Blogs
Related Articles

Curatorial rivalry between MFA and ICA heats up with new appointment
Boston Phoenix
Curatorial rivalry between MFA and ICA heats up with new appointment
Published 12/22/2009 by Greg Cook
Jen Mergel Museum hot seatsBoston’s Museum of Fine Arts announced today that it has lured away the most senior curator at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary...

0910_grace_lsit
Boston Phoenix
Sunday school
Published 10/23/2009 by MARCIA B. SIEGEL
Ronald K. Brown at the ICA

more by Greg Cook
Reboot | January 29, 2010
Beautiful garbage | January 22, 2010
Visions of hope | January 15, 2010
Works in progress | January 15, 2010
Molesworth named ICA chief curator | January 14, 2010

 See all articles by: Greg Cook

ADVERTISEMENT
Latest Comments
A Plea To Ignore O'Keefe - The removal of federal ACORN funding demonstrated that ACORN is so politically insignificant that it...

By David S. Bernstein on 01-29-2010 in Talking Politics

A Plea To Ignore O'Keefe - If you think that giving advice on how to continue prostituting out what these members thought were a...

By Jennifer Wachowski on 01-29-2010 in Talking Politics

A Plea To Ignore O'Keefe - I'm not sure I follow your logic in what you're saying. Regardless of the fact that O'Keefe's...

By The Centrist on 01-29-2010 in Talking Politics

A Plea To Ignore O'Keefe - Please, please, James O'Keefe is one arrogant who believes he's above the law. His intended motive is...

By Janey08 on 01-29-2010 in Talking Politics

A Plea To Ignore O'Keefe - "A) organized into largely autonomous chapters, some of which are run more competently than others...

By Dave, Des Moines, IA on 01-29-2010 in Talking Politics

Latest Comments from Phlog
Most Viewed
VIDEO: Amanda Palmer, Boston Pops usher in 2010 with cover of Lady Gaga's "Pokerface"
VIDEO: Boston's first rock of 2010 with the Waltham, the Lyres, and Kristin Hersh
Ticket On-Sale Alert: Wilco, Air, Owl City, Puscifer, and more
Julian Casablancas on what's wrong with his solo record. Plus: the 76th bullshit Britney story of 2009
HOMEWORK: Assignment #4: Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills
MP3: Casey Dienel goes Gaga on White Hinterland's new Kairos
MP3 of the Week: Conservative Man, "The Heist"
Most Viewed from Phlog
Search Blogs
 
Phlog Archives
Sunday, January 31, 2010  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
thePhoenix.com
Phoenix Media/Communications Group
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group