Contemporary Calgary Appoints Interim Chief Curator, Ryan Doherty
Photo by Elyse Bouvier.
Contemporary Calgary today announced the appointment of Ryan Doherty as Interim Chief Curator. Former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Doherty has been working in contemporary visual arts for more than 20 years and has organized a host of acclaimed exhibitions, publications, and other cultural productions with artists from far and wide.
Doherty will provide timely guidance in developing diverse programming as the gallery makes its home in the 1967 Centennial Planetarium. Additionally, he will bring valuable experience in consultation with Gibbs Gage Architects and KPMB Architects to help transform the Planetarium into a world-class gallery for modern and contemporary art.
“We are delighted to have Ryan on board,” said David Leinster, Chief Executive Officer of Contemporary Calgary. “Not only has he proven to be a respected voice in the country with a broad network of colleagues and diverse curatorial expertise, but his experience with facility renovations will be an enormous asset. As Contemporary Calgary prepares to relocate, we have added confidence with Ryan joining the team that we can transition smoothly while offering a host of exciting and engaging cultural experiences in the gallery and throughout the community.”
Contemporary Calgary is eager to present exhibitions and public programs onsite in the interim period before construction begins in 2020. They will continue to offer cultural events offsite and in collaboration with other organizations in the city such as the exhibition Before Digital: Post-1970 Photography in Alberta now on view at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery, ACAD.
“I’m very excited and honoured to be a part of this team and to help lay the foundations for what will surely become one of the premiere cultural organizations in Canada,” said Doherty. “As it happens, I helped set up an exhibition for Contemporary Calgary’s predecessor IMCA at the old AGT building as an early effort to generate support for this project. To finally see it come to fruition decades later is an extraordinary pleasure and I know it will spark the imaginations of our communities in the same way it has mine. The potential in this unique and reimagined venue in tandem with a vision for Calgary as a radically engaged cultural centre leaves me feeling deeply inspired.”
SOURCE: Contemporary Calgary Arts Society
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