One of the highest profile jobs in L.A.’s art world has officially been filled: The UCLA Hammer Museum in Westwood announced Monday that its next director will be Zoë Ryan, who arrives from the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ryan will replace Hammer director Ann Philbin , who after transforming the museum over 25 years, is scheduled to depart in November. Ryan, who will start in January, said in an interview that she has long admired how the Hammer has elevated experimental interdisciplinary artists. She also said she intends to build on Philbin’s signature accomplishments, including the Made in L.A. biennial and Hammer Projects, with its deep commitment to emerging voices.
“In many ways the Hammer shares my values and interests,” Ryan said. “Its mission is artist-centered. Its program is at the intersection of art and social justice, and it has a strong connection to the university. This is an environment that I find really rewarding.”
Philbin wrote in an email that she first got to know Ryan when the Hammer and ICA co-presented a 2022 retrospective of Ulysses Jenkins, an important L.A.-based video artist who had not been given his due.