In their words - Championing Experimental Practice - Stories

Martha Kazungu:

“ICI was the first hands-on curatorial training I ever had, and I would not be where I am without it. There are so many people with brilliant minds who never had the opportunity or means to begin this training, and programs like the Curatorial Intensive are so important because in one week, it gives participants direction and confidence that their ideas are possible and that they can make them happen.”

More about Martha Kazungu ↗

Nato Thompson:

"I have long admired ICI’s commitment to curatorial experimentation and its ability to foster a truly global community of practitioners. At a time when the world feels increasingly closed in, ICI’s expansive vision—supporting bold ideas, connecting curators across borders, and championing new forms of exhibition-making—is more essential than ever."

More about Nato Thompson ↗

Nina Felshin:

"ICI is an astonishingly and impressively transformed organization since the time I curated five group shows in the 1980s and 1990s. I am absolutely blown away by its greatly expanded vision, especially its goal of empowering not only curators but the communities in which they work, and encouraging solidarity, in recognition that working together is ultimately the only way to overcome divisive forces in today’s world. ICI’s vision presents a role model for the cultural sphere in general and, as we used to say, the real world, as well."

More about Nina Felshin ↗

Jordan Jones:

"ICI has offered me an expansive education in curatorial practice at every stage of my career thus far, and I know they will continue to be there as a support long into the future."

More about Jordan Jones ↗

Madeleine Kennedy:

"What I find so remarkable about ICI is that the vision and values they articulate—however ambitious they may sound—are always already exemplified in the way they work to bring them into being. It is prefigurative practice at its best: Dreaming of a future whilst modelling it in the present, emboldening the people they are in relationship with to believe it's possible and feel empowered to work that way too, knowing they are there if we ever need support."

More about Madeleine Kennedy ↗

David Ayala-Alfonso:

"ICI creates opportunities for things that you have in your head, but are impossible to create by yourself, especially if you are truly independent. If you have an independent practice and you don’t have a platform, then ICI comes and helps you realize projects that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to."

More about David Ayala-Alfonso ↗

Trisha Lagaso Goldberg:

"As an independent curator for over two decades, I know the weight of making exhibitions alone. In ICI I have found a true partner. Their respect, knowledge, and care amplify my vision for Remittance and ensure its circulation across borders. ICI sustains independent voices and builds spaces of dialogue that resist isolation. In a moment marked by violence and fracture, ICI models collaboration rooted in tenderness and trust."

More about Trisha Lagaso Goldberg ↗

Sara Krajewski:

"As a young curator, I had the opportunity to travel an exhibition through ICI. Their interest and willingness to share it widely gave me a wealth of confidence to commit to an innovative, artist-driven curatorial practice, and the team has remained a valuable resource for me. Now's the time to support ICI in its work to position curators as change agents and engaged citizens in this radically changing cultural climate."

More about Sara Krajewski ↗

Oyindamola Faithful:

"ICI’s 2010 program was pivotal in my curatorial journey. Coming from a non-arts background at an early stage of my career, it gave me invaluable theoretical grounding and practical knowledge. The experience of learning alongside excellent curators and the generosity of dialogue with the faculty and team continues to shape my socially engaged practice today. Beyond the program itself, ICI’s website and network remain valuable resources, keeping me connected to global best practices and providing ongoing inspiration throughout my curatorial career."

More about Oyindamola Faithful ↗

Claire Gilman:

"ICI played a pivotal role in launching my curatorial career by supporting my first major exhibition, The Storyteller, in 2010. Co-organized with Margaret Sundell, the show traveled to multiple venues, amplifying its impact and reach. ICI’s collaborative spirit and commitment to curatorial innovation made this project possible and unforgettable."

More about Claire Gilman ↗

Melissa Feldman:

"It's been well over 10 years since ICI produced Push Play—my Fluxus-inspired exhibition of playable art—and instead of waning over time, our connection has only grown stronger. ICI has been a lifeline in terms of professional support and providing a sense of inclusion and connection. My experience is a tiny example of the way ICI operates globally, building communities one relationship at a time."

More about Melissa Feldman ↗

Fitsum Shebeshe:

"My relationship with ICI began in 2014 at the Curatorial Intensive in Addis Ababa, when I was a new graduate and assistant curator at the National Museum of Ethiopia with no experience. The Intensive gave me the foundation and confidence to build my curatorial practice. Later ICI recommended me for graduate studies in the US where I was admitted with a full scholarship. I then curated ICI's traveling exhibition States of Becoming, and their support continues to shape my career and remains a true catalyst in my curatorial path."

More about Fitsum Shebeshe ↗

Marcela Guerrero:

"Matchmaking for curators? ICI is the answer. Without question, ICI is the strongest network for curators to connect, exchange ideas, share resources, and create opportunities. I feel nurtured and supported by the fellowship ICI fosters. I am deeply grateful for the wisdom and access to luminaries around the world that ICI has opened up for me."

More about Marcela Guerrero ↗

Gervais Marsh:

"There's an intention that I've always felt with ICI in maintaining and deepening relationships with folks who have been involved in different iterations of the programing. ICI has really allowed me to cultivate a rich and nuanced network of curators and cultural practitioners on a global level, which I think is really critical as I think about curatorial practices expansively and what it also means to decenter Western sites."

More about Gervais Marsh ↗

Alaina Claire Feldman:

"In this ever-precarious moment for the arts across the world, a shared commitment to artists, new ideas, and collaboration is urgent. ICI has been facilitating such commitments for 50 years by supporting relationships among curators, artists, and audiences. Through its vibrant programming, the organization has uniquely fostered generations of curators who no longer feel isolated but instead see themselves as part of a growing community empowered with resources to help the arts flourish."

More about Alaina Claire Feldman ↗

Heather Jones:

"ICI was deeply formative for me as a young curator. Working with ICI's exhibitions gave me the opportunity to collaborate with inspiring artists, curators, and art spaces around the world. The organization's commitment to fostering dialogue and bringing new perspectives to audiences shaped not only my professional path but also my understanding of the power of art to connect people across social, political, and geographic boundaries."

More about Heather Jones ↗

Hans Ulrich Obrist:

"My encounters with ICI go back to the 90s, when we collaborated on a do it iteration which spanned across 25 cities and marked the beginning of do it in the United States. During almost 30 years of collaborating with ICI, it is amazing to see an institution working on such a long durational project and witness the commitment of ICI to bring art to the places where we expect it least."

More about Hans Ulrich Obrist ↗

Barbara London:

"Innovative ideas tend to be misunderstood at first. Yet what baffles may slowly come to be considered inspirational and deemed forever important. ICI has been integral to this revelatory process by championing curators who track and identify the vibrant transformations within the contemporary arts. ICI is to be lauded for its decades of supporting curators who decipher and contextualize out-of-the-ordinary artwork by risk taking artists."

More about Barbara London ↗

Xavier Robles Armas:

"I think ICI is an essential space for collaboration, it uplifts people and creates a network for curators to be in conversation with each other. It's building a network of curators who have similar values and are able to support and sustain each other, amplify artists, and create spaces for knowledge production across the country and the world."

More about Xavier Robles Armas ↗

Marina Reyes Franco:

"ICI has been a part of my life as a curator since 2014. From my days as a Curatorial Intensive participant, to being supported in my research through the ICI-CPPC Travel Award for Central America and the Caribbean, and more recently co-curating the traveling exhibition Sunlight on the Sea Floor, ICI’s presence has been a throughline of my career so far. The organization is one-of-a-kind—decidedly supportive of curators, a connector of art scenes and professional networks across the world, deeply caring about the work they do for us, and the wider public."

More about Marina Reyes Franco ↗

Zoe Butt:

"For more than a decade, I have been involved with the evolving network of ICI and its myriad programs. Much of my career has been given hope because of ICI introductions, which have been integral in the formulation of my own curatorial methodology and purpose. Organizations such as ICI deserve greater recognition for their fostering of artistic value beyond the prism of stereotype, assumption and assumed borders. In this geopolitical moment, more than ever, we need such leadership in the arts."

More about Zoe Butt ↗

Miranda Lash:

"ICI is exceptional in its dedication to advancing curation as both a practice and a platform for global dialogue. It champions the belief that our discourse becomes more powerful through the open exchange of ideas and the support of a collegial network. ICI promotes a world where ideas move freely, unobstructed by borders, nationalism, or ideology. It doesn't just support curators—it opens worlds."

More about Miranda Lash ↗

Ingrid Schaffner:

"For 50 years, ICI has emanated ever-new currents of contemporary art and curatorial practice into ever-expanding fields of reception. As part of the surge, I like to think of Jess: To and From the Printed Page (2007) and Pictures, Patents, Monkeys More…On Collecting (2001) traveling and morphing with each collaborating venue that created interesting programs and brought more people to see and think about the work on view."

More about Ingrid Schaffner ↗

Hou Hanru:

"How to maintain and develop independence as curators in an age of general institutionalization and commodification of art and curatorial practices? It’s probably the most challenging question for us… ICI as a pioneer in the field, has contributed significantly to the cause, and it will continue to do so, in an even more independent way."

More about Hou Hanru ↗

Carin Kuoni:

"ICI makes something intricately complex feel beautifully clear: contemporary art has the power to unite people across borders, and curators are the midwives of these life-affirming encounters. For 50 years, ICI has carried this vision forward with joy, courage, precision, and an unshakable commitment to learning and renewal. ICI reminds us that art and dialogue are forces of survival, resistance, and hope, and it is our responsibility to sustain them."

More about Carin Kuoni ↗

María Elena Ortiz:

"ICI supplemented my curatorial research at a pivotal moment in my career. Supporting curiosity, passion, and creativity, ICI’s travel award sustained my research, which resulted in the creation of partnerships and collaborations that continue to inspire me. ICI’s commitment to inquiry, learning, and community gives me hope about the future of curatorial practice."

More about María Elena Ortiz ↗

Weng Choy Lee:

“It’s been well over a decade since the last time I did something with ICI, but what impresses me about the organization is its commitment to staying in touch. ICI isn’t just about networking, it’s about long-lasting relationships.”

More about Weng Choy Lee ↗

An Duplan:

"My fondness of ICI stems from the dynamics in place being akin to academic spaces I’ve been a part of for quite some time, divorced from many of the drawbacks of being in a classroom space. Targeted mentoring has allowed me to develop my craft and further ideas beyond what most students are able to develop within the academy.”

More about An Duplan ↗

Paula Nascimento:

"As an institution that focuses on fostering curators worldwide, ICI plays a crucial role and has a mission that extends beyond career development programs to support a diverse range of practices and research topics. As a Fellow, the mentoring program was important in allowing me to situate my practice into a broader context, to extend my network of "cohorts" and, more importantly, to provide me with the tools and time to research and to develop the sometimes invisible side of our practice, without the pressures of exhibition-making."

More about Paula Nascimento ↗

Toby Kamps:

"In 2007, Alex Baker and I organized Space Is the Place for ICI. From start to finish, it was a great pleasure to work with ICI’s team to “launch” the show, turning it from a long-simmering idea into a fully-fledged exhibition, complete with catalogue and six presentations across the United States. Thanks to ICI’s curatorial, logistical, and tour-building expertise, we were able to infiltrate the country with artists’ affecting visions of rocket-powered transcendence in an especially earthbound moment."

More about Toby Kamps ↗

Marie Hélène Pereira:

“For a young African Curator like myself (and several others) whose career have been entirely constructed and developed in Senegal, on the African continent, it’s always important to point out the challenges linked to the lack of public infrastructures to allow for the recognition and empowerment of curatorial practices on the African continent in comparison to Europe or the United States. ICI is the only institution I know that exclusively puts so much time, effort and care for the empowerment and emergence of curators worldwide.”

More about Marie Hélène Pereira ↗

Chloe Geoghegan:

"It’s about you, the person and your development, and it almost doesn’t matter if you’re working in a job or not; it’s all about the individuals. And I think that’s so rare, for that to be across the globe, and for a long-running, established institution in New York City to be supporting people as far away as I am, is incredible."

More about Chloe Geoghegan ↗

Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick:

"ICI has helped me situate my place/space curatorial practice in relation to regional and global conversations. For someone growing up on an archipelago, that’s not necessarily something that happens easily, but I think the organization has really helped me to understand how islands are related to continents and larger flows."

More about Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick ↗

Susan Hapgood:

"ICI creates essential space for contemporary art curators to develop their practices and learn. I was extremely fortunate to work for seven years as Director of Exhibitions at ICI, coordinating and organizing traveling shows, and teaching in the first two Curatorial Intensives. These were wonderful, intense, formative years in my career, and I am thankful to the entire institution for so much professional opportunity."

More about Susan Hapgood ↗

Innocent Ekejiuba:

“ICI is one of the organizations I found that not only creates, but goes out of its way to enable its network and this creation of layers and layers of relationships, so that by being a part of ICI, you not only join a larger network of arts practitioners across the world, you also have access to mentors and senior curators across the world. But then most importantly, you build a family.”

More about Innocent Ekejiuba ↗

Negarra Kudumu:

"ICI’s commitment to the independent curator is simultaneously a commitment to creative production that does not have to be tied to structures and systems that promote a narrow cross section of the immense spectrum of visual culture. As such, ICI is committed to broadening the visibility of the other parts of this spectrum that typically get little to no airtime in the hallowed institutions of the art love that we know, love, and are finally starting to problematize."

More about Negarra Kudumu ↗

Terry Smith:

"Thinking about ICI from a historical perspective, from its founding in the mid-1970s as an art space without a dedicated space, as a project to generate traveling exhibitions of contemporary art, we can see already the germination of the ideal that has sustained it ever since. ICI became a necessity when a generation of curators saw themselves as a cohort which, when working together in a loose community, could sustain each other’s independence. ICI became international when independent curating became a worldwide, world-making phenomenon."

More about Terry Smith ↗

Tandazani Dhlakama:

“The Curatorial Intensive gave me the confirmation that the career path I was about to embark on was important, at a time when I wasn’t sure that I had made the right decision. A beautiful network of peers was developed through this Intensive. They gave us anecdotes and nuggets that one can never obtain from a textbook. This type of environment is fertile ground for so many wonderful things to develop. It is absolutely essential for this program to continue throughout Africa because it promotes and emphasizes the interconnectedness and cross pollination of ideas that has been occurring on the continent along with the African diaspora and other parts of the globe.”

More about Tandazani Dhlakama ↗

Grace Aneiza Ali:

"What I’ve always loved about ICI is that they’ve always been thinking about gathering across borders, across curators in different levels in their field; there’s something really beautiful about ICI’s ethos of gathering."

More about Grace Aneiza Ali ↗

Serubiri Moses:

"Today ICI stands as an exemplary model for co-operative exhibition-making which continues to offer educational opportunities for the most disadvantaged of arts and culture leaders across the globe. Additionally, the community of artists that ICI supports is actively re-shaping how we understand visual art and its philosophies."

More about Serubiri Moses ↗

Sally Tallant:

"ICI has been a part of my own growth and development as a curator, educator, and Director. I have been involved for many years since I was working at the Serpentine Galleries in London and was able to participate in talks, intensives and conferences in NYC and beyond. As the Director of the Queens Museum in NY, I value the energy and independence that ICI brings to the arts ecology, and I think they play an important role bringing new voices, overlooked voices and perspectives, and the much needed heartbeat to the sector!"

More about Sally Tallant ↗

Paula Naughton:

"What I value most about ICI is their long-term commitment—they don’t just support projects in the moment, they nurture practices and research over time, allowing ideas to grow and take root. For me, being part of the ICI community has meant having a place to turn for advice, conversation, encouragement, and a sense of belonging. I am deeply grateful for their vision and for the way they continue to accompany curators through the evolving paths of our work."

More about Paula Naughton ↗

Miguel López:

"ICI has been a pivotal institution for emerging curators, offering access to references and practices from colleagues working in, around, and beyond the museum space. It has sparked new ways of thinking and fostered international connections that have helped shape curatorial conversations worldwide. ICI’s work remains essential—may its impact only grow stronger in the years to come!"

More about Miguel López ↗

Keyna Eleison:

"I am a curator who only understands myself in the construction of intellectualities in connections, contacts, and alliances, and ICI confirmed and showed me that I am not alone on my path. With ICI, I was able to be stronger and more consistent in how intellectualities are multiple and affection is something that is learned in the field of art every day. And I am grateful to be part of a vast and brilliant group that will never stop growing."

More about Keyna Eleison ↗

David Evans Frantz:

“Thanks to ICI’s steadfast championing, the artists and histories featured in the exhibitions I have co-curated with them have gained renewed attention and reached wide-reaching publics. ICI’s tenacity and care have helped reshape the art historical canon and amplified my work as a curator focusing on art history’s so-called margins.”

More about David Evans Frantz ↗

Lars Bang Larsen:

"If the first half century of ICI made an indelible point about curating as a young and energizing agency in contemporary art; now more than ever, the intellectual ambition and organizational heft of ICI is needed to embolden and qualify a new generation of curators. Because of the clarity of its vision and the strength of its values, ICI is an institution for a future in which art can be a connective tissue capable of reaching across cultures and communities."

More about Lars Bang Larsen ↗

Michele Horrigan:

"For me, ICI is an environment of encouragement and support. An organization that prioritizes human connection and relationships, and fosters network building in a meaningful way. The ICI alumni family span the globe and value each other within that connection. In its intention, this method of community building can challenge the inequalities and exclusions of the social fabric today."

More about Michele Horrigan ↗

Cosmin Costinas:

"In our times, when informed connections and deep understanding across viewpoints and geographies are more urgent and consequential than ever, ICI has been providing crucial and visionary support for curators, the indispensable agents in this task. There are few institutions in our field who, over the next half a century, will play a more critical role than ICI in weaving and mending our world."

More about Cosmin Costinas ↗

Jochen Volz:

"It has been a privilege to collaborate with ICI on several occasions and in different capacities over past decades. Besides its vital role in shaping a truly global and inclusive curatorial discourse and new practices, ICI fosters collaboration across borders and cultural contexts. The organization's commitment to experimentation and knowledge-sharing constantly provokes new ways of thinking and working with art and audiences. I am deeply grateful for the amazing ICI network of professionals who continue to inspire me daily."

More about Jochen Volz ↗

Martha Wilson:

"ICI has been a central player in the development of my career as an individual artist as well as a critical supporter of Franklin Furnace, the not-for-profit organization I founded in New York in 1976. In 2010, I was selected as the initial artist to prepare an artist's publication, The Martha Wilson Sourcebook, and between 2011 and 2013, ICI traveled MARTHA WILSON; STAGING THE SELF/30 PROJECTS FROM 30 YEARS OF FRANKLIN FURNACE ARCHIVE, INC. nationally and internationally. ICI and Martha Wilson have had a long and productive friendship that continues today."

More about Martha Wilson ↗