Amy Sadao, ICA’s Daniel Dietrich, II Director, spoke with the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage about the meaning of “contemporary,” the impact of social and political movements on curatorial decisions, the importance of institutional collaboration, and her vision for the ICA in the years to come.
Everything we see, we see with contemporary eyes—whether it’s a five thousand-year-old work of architecture, 1960s clothing, or a drawing made yesterday—and if you say you are an artist or if you call yourself a contemporary artist, I believe you. The question about authority to decide who is or isn’t contemporary is really the question of which work gets historicized, how, and where. —Amy Sadao