Star Curator Jamillah James on Why LA’s Artists Deserve More Attention From Museums
n a city with no fewer than four museums dedicated to contemporary art, one might assume that there would be plenty of opportunities for Los Angeles artists to show locally. But Jamillah James, the curator of the newly renamed Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, says that is not the case—though she has made it her mission to improve their odds.
“I don’t just want to invite artists outside the city to show in LA for the first time, but to provide opportunities and give love to artists that are here,” James—formerly an assistant curator at the Hammer and curatorial fellow at the Studio Museum in Harlem—told artnet News on a recent walkthrough of the museum’s new building.
Sarah Cain’s Now I’m going to tell you everything (2017), on the 7th Street courtyard wall at the ICA, Los Angeles. Photo: Jeff McLane, courtesy of the artist and ICA LA.
Previously known as the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the ICA LA reopens on Saturday in a former industrial factory in Downtown LA with a refined mission to shine a spotlight on overlooked talent. The admission-free, non-collecting museum was pushed out of its former Bergamot Station home by rising rents last year. Its new, 12,700-square-foot building has been refurbished by LA-based firm wHY Architecture; its new graphic identity, designed by artist Mark Bradford, is painted in a bold yellow on the facade.
The new location takes the museum outside the wealthy confines of Santa Monica and allows it to reach a new, more diverse audience. It also brings the institution closer to a growing concentration of cultural spaces clustered downtown, including MoCA, the Broad, the museum-like Hauser & Wirth, and the forthcoming Main Museum.