Hammer Museum has appointed to be its next director, succeeding Ann Philbin, longtime director of the museum for 25 years, whose retirement was announced in October last year. Ryan will take over on 1 January 2025.
Ryan hails from the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) where has served as Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director since 2020, overseeing the ICA’s exhibition programmes, art commissions and public engagement. Prior to the ICA, Ryan was the John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she managed a collection of more than 250,000 objects. Ryan has also curated large scale international exhibitions including the second Istanbul Design Biennial, The Future is Not What it Used to Be in 2014.
‘The Hammer Museum is one of the most exciting museums in the country. It has had an electrifying effect on Los Angeles’ ascendance as a global arts capital,’ said Ryan in a statement. ‘With its experimental exhibitions and dynamic public programs, the Hammer has set the pace for museums to engage with the critical issues of our time, whether politics, climate change, and justice and equity for all.’
