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The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) is a museum which features 7,500-square-feet of exhibition space in Downtown Los Angeles. As an independent and non-collecting art museum (or kunsthalle), it exhibits the work of local, national, and international contemporary artists.

Founded in 1984 as the Santa Monica Museum of Art, ICA LA was previously based at the Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica, California until May 2015. The Institute now stands in what was previously a 12,700-square-foot former clothing warehouse, redesigned by architect Kulapat Yantrasast.

History
With the intention of opening a cultural center within a commercial district, Abby Sher established the Santa Monica Museum of Art in the Frank Gehry designed mixed-use center Edgemar in 1984. Four years later, Thomas Rhoads became the museum's director and mounted the museum's first exhibition, "Art in the Raw" in the 8,000 square foot clear span, clerestory-rimmed 1908 Imperial Ice Company warehouse building.

Under the banner of the Museum’s Artist Project series, Rhoads and his team of curators organized shows for Andrea Bowers, Meg Cranston, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, and Lynn Aldrich. They arranged the first solo shows for Daniel J. Martinez (1988), Jennifer Steinkamp (1989), William Leavitt (1990), and Allan Sekula (1996) among others.

The museum stayed in its first home from 1984 until 1997, when it moved from Edgemar, and reopened in the Bergamot Station Arts Center in 1998. Upon the Museum’s relocation to Bergamot Station Arts Center, the Artist Project Series continued in the Museum’s two Project Rooms. The inaugural exhibition at Bergamot featured emerging artist Liza Lou and her dazzlingly beaded, full-size kitchen and backyard installations.

In 2000, former Moore College Gallery Director Elsa Longhauser was appointed executive director. Longhauser marked her arrival with a retrospective of feminist Austrian artist Valie Export, and has continued to champion the museum as important players in the ongoing international art dialogue. Longhauser has overseen exhibitions of work by Yoshimoto Nara (2000), Urs Fischer (2002), Terry Allen (2004), Michael Queenland (2012), and Mickalene Thomas (2012).

Guest-curated exhibitions have also included Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna's Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle (2005), a Walter Hopps-curated George Herms exhibition (2005), and Jori Finkel's Identity Theft: Eleanor Antin, Lynn Hershman, and Suzy Lake (2007).

In 2016, the museum announced an official name change to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and its relocation to the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District, adjacent to neighboring Boyle Heights.

Exhibitions
In September 2017, the Institute officially opened with featured works by Martin Ramirez as part of the Pacific Standard Time LA/LA initiative, as well as temporal works by Sarah Cain in the courtyard. The exhibition included bilingual guided tours and wall labels, in English and Spanish, and live performances by a band of Latin-American day laborers. As part of the ICA LA's Project Room, curator Jamila Brown organized the first solo presentation of Abigail Deville's installation.

Carrying on the Santa Monica Museum of Art's legacy, the Institute of Contemporary Art has hosted groundbreaking exhibitions for future art world luminaries.

Maryam Jafri - industralized food production, first solo exhibition in the US

sisters and brothers presents a selection of early video works from artists Jaguar Mary/Jocelyn Taylor and Ayanna U’Dongo

wall signage This Brush For Hire

Rafa Esparza

Skip Arnold: Truffle Hunt

Programs
The Institute offers a full-range of free public programs including lectures and panel discussions, and community oriented education programs for K-12 children. The ICA LA’s Director of Education and Public Programming Asuka Hisa has collaborated with organizations in the Downtown area to present a robust calendar of related partnerships and initiatives, ranging from hands-on workshops and K-12 school projects to lectures and performances.

On Mondays, the Institute is closed to the public, with the staff focusing on school groups and community organizations visits. The Institute has also developed ARTransmissions, a learning resource that helps connect ICA LA's exhibition with the school curriculum.

Working with the youth organization Legacy LA, and various arts organizations, the Institute runs "Agency of Assets", providing East LA high school students with paid summer jobs in the creative sector, as well as workshops, excursions, and one-on-one consultation. Partners in this program include: Hauser & Wirth, Self Help Graphics, Casa 0101, Nephew LA, The Box, Cornerstone Theater, Vincent Price Art Museum, 356 Mission, and Ball Nogues Studio.

Management
Thomas Rhoads was the museum’s first executive director. In 2000, former director of the Moore College of Art and Design galleries, Elsa Longhauser, was named executive director. With the relaunch of the museum in 2017, Jamilah James joined as curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art.