Gregor Muir

Gregor Muir is the Executive Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.^[1] He was previously director of one of the branches of the commercial art gallery Hauser & Wirth, in London (196A Piccadilly).^[2] He is author of the 2009 memoir "Lucky Kunst," in which he recalls experiences in the YBA art scene and life in 1990s London.^[3]

Life and career

Since starting as ICA Director in 2011, Gregor Muir has been responsible for exhibitions by Pablo Bronstein, Jacob Kassay, Lis Rhodes and Bruce Nauman. At Hauser & Wirth (2004 - 2011), Muir organized exhibitions of works by Francis Picabia, Henry Moore^[4] and emerging artists such as Jakub Julian Ziolkowski and Zhang Enli.^[5] He has also curated group exhibitions such as 'Old School' bringing together seminal paintings by Old Master and Contemporary artists such as Bruegel, Cranach, Currin and Peyton. In 2005, he curated 'London in Zurich' at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, featuring works by Lali Chetwynd (now Spartacus Chetwynd), Djordje Ozbolt, Daniel Sinsel and Anj Smith.

Between 2001 and 2004, Muir was the Kramlich Curator of Contemporary Art at Tate Modern where he worked on numerous film and video acquisitions for Tate Collections, as well as curating museum displays of contemporary art from the Tate Collection,^[6] including a special focus on Robert Morris' 1971 Tate Gallery exhibition and Carl Andre's 'Equivalent' series ("the bricks"). Along with Jessica Morgan he curated the exhibition 'Time Zones' at Tate Modern, one of the museum's first exhibitions dedicated to the moving image, as well as 'In-a-Gadda-da-Vida' at Tate Britain with Damien Hirst, Angus Fairhurst and Sarah Lucas.^[7]

In 1997, Muir worked at the Lux Gallery in Hoxton Square,^[2] in the emerging cultural quarter of Shoreditch, showing works by artist such as Kutlug Ataman and Carsten Holler.^[8]

In 1997, he co-curated 'Assuming Positions' at the ICA London, featuring works by Jorge Pardo, Tobias Rehberger and Piotr Uklanski.^[2] Between 1996 and 1997, Muir curated the video programs 'Speaking of Sofas' and 'A Small Shifting Sphere of Serious Culture', including works by Tacita Dean, Peter Doig, Gillian Wearing and Jane & Louise Wilson. In 1994 he curated 'Liar', featuring works by Cerith Wyn Evans and Jake and Dinos Chapman, and in 1993 he curated 'Lucky Kunst', featuring artists such as Gary Hume and Sam Taylor-Wood.^[9]

Gregor Muir is listed in Who's Who.^{[citation needed]}

He has also been a writer for numerous artist catalogues, as well as having previously contributed to parkett and frieze magazine.

Works

• Lucky Kunst: The Rise and Fall of Young British Art. Aurum Press, Limited. 2010. ISBN 978-1-84513-528-7. 

Reviews

• Waldemar Januszczak (January 18, 2009). "Lucky Kunst: The Rise and Fall of Young British Art by Gregor Muir". The Sunday Times.  [Pay-for link]
• Tracey Emin. "My friend Gregor and I fell out when I miaowed during his inaugural speech | The Independent". The Independent. 

References

External links

• ICA staff page
• Review of Lucky Kunst