News — Sep 22, 2015

Amsterdam, September 22, 2015 - Independent Curators International (ICI) announced today that on the occasion of its milestone 40-year anniversary, it will honor Beatrix Ruf, Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, with the 2015 Agnes Gund Curatorial Award (Aggie Award).

The Aggie Award, established for and named after Agnes Gund for her long-standing dedication to ICI and to the role of curators in contemporary culture, is presented every other year to an established curator for their outstanding contribution to the world of art. The Award will be presented to Ruf at ICI’s 40th Anniversary Benefit & Auction in New York City on November 18, 2015.

Over the years, Beatrix Ruf has shown unwavering support of artists, helping define many careers. She has followed her trust in the experimental, and consistently nurtured emerging art practice, giving several young artists their first museum exhibitions and commissions. Through key survey exhibitions, she has also inscribed more established artists such as Sturtevant, Isa Genzken, Rosemarie Trockel, Laura Owens, Yang Fudong and Ian Wallace in an art historical arc. Like many curators in recent years, Ruf has worked towards building strong infrastructures for contemporary art practice. From 2001 to 2014, she ran the Kunsthalle Zürich, where she initiated an extensive building expansion while also developing a distinguished exhibitions program.

Ruf believes in the importance of fostering art discourse, and as such she served for many years as a Board Member of JRP|Ringier, one of the world’s leading contemporary art publishing houses. Committed to institutional cooperation across borders, Ruf often worked within a network of prominent European institutions including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tate Liverpool, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Since 2014, she has been the Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

"For the past 20 years, Ruf has been among those who have expanded the curatorial role in all directions. With the Agnes Gund Curatorial Award, we honor her commitment to enriching art history, championing emerging artists, developing more ways to experience art, building new structures, and to establishing strong support for critical discourse around contemporary practice,” states Renaud Proch, ICI’s Executive Director.

”I am thrilled to be recognized with this extraordinary honor. I feel deeply humbled to receive this very special acknowledgment from ICI, and the remarkable, inspiring Agnes Gund. I am honored to be included among such an esteemed group of previous awardees,” states Beatrix Ruf.

Past recipients of the Agnes Gund Curatorial Award have included Lynne Cooke, Robert Storr, Alanna Heiss, Okwui Enwezor, Roselee Goldberg, Matthew Higgs, and Germano Celant.

At its 40th Anniversary Benefit & Auction, ICI will present the Agnes Gund Curatorial Award, as well as the Leo Award to Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of LACMA for his extraordinary commitment to artists and his pioneering contributions to the field of contemporary art.

About Beatrix Ruf

Beatrix Ruf (Singen, Germany, 1960) has a rich and diverse career in the international art world. After completing studies in Psychology, Ethnology and Art and Cultural Sciences at the University of Zürich followed by studying at the Conservatory of Vienna, Ruf worked as a freelance curator, choreographer and critic. She served as Curator at Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Warth from 1994–98, and was Director of Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus from 1998–2001. In 2001, Beatrix Ruf was appointed Director of Kunsthalle Zürich, overseeing a substantial expansion project launched in 2003 and concluded in 2012. She developed an internationally renowned exhibition program of solo presentations and group exhibitions. Wilhelm Sasnal, Keren Cytter, Trisha Donnelly, Wade Guyton, Seth Price and Ed Atkins were among the young talents to receive their first museum presentation there. Ruf does not shy away from the experimental, which is clear from the countless new productions that were realized during her directorate: John Miller, Richard Prince, Heimo Zobernig, Isa Genzken, Sarah Lucas and Rosemarie Trockel among many others produced ambitious installations especially for Kunsthalle Zürich. Since her appointment at the Stedelijk Museum, Ruf has initiated exhibitions with, among others, Tino Sehgal, Ed Atkins, Liam Gillick and Isa Genzken. Beatrix Ruf’s bio continues Here.

About ICI

Independent Curators International (ICI) produces exhibitions, events, publications, research and training opportunities for curators and diverse audiences around the world. Established in 1975, ICI is a unique organization that focuses on the role of the curator as a contextualizing force for contemporary art, and one that develops infrastructure for contemporary artists and art discourse in different contexts throughout the world. ICI connects emerging and established curators, artists, and art spaces, into collaborative networks that are relevant regionally and inscribed within an international framework. Inspiring fresh ways of seeing and contextualizing contemporary art, ICI provides access to the people and practices that are key to current developments in the field. Over the last 40 years, ICI exhibitions, publications, training programs and research initiatives for curators – as well as hundreds of free events for everyone – have taken place in 400 cities and 55 countries. ICI has supported over 1,000 curators, 2,600 artists, and worked with 550 art spaces. And there are currently over 360 alumni of the Curatorial Intensive, ICI’s professional development program, who are based in 64 countries and represent the future of the curatorial field. Our network keeps growing, one collaboration at a time. Last year alone, ICI exhibitions were seen in over 37 venues in 16 countries. Emerging curators from 24 countries participated in the Curatorial Intensive, with courses held in Addis Ababa, Mexico City, Moscow, and New York; and more than 60 curators and artists contributed to ICI’s talks, public programs, and research initiatives.

Note to editors: For more information and images, please contact the Press Office of the Stedelijk Museum, +31 (0)20 573 26 660 / 656 or pressoffice@stedelijk.nl