BOSTON, MASS.- The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) announced the promotions of two curators, Jeffrey De Blois and Tessa Bachi Haas. De Blois, who first joined the ICA in 2015, assumes the position of Mannion Family Curator, taking on an expanded leadership role in the ICA’s curatorial and exhibition programs. He will also continue to manage the ICA’s publications program. Haas, who joined the curatorial department in 2022 as a fellow, has been promoted to Assistant Curator at the museum, deepening her involvement in the ICA’s exhibition program and educational initiatives.
“We are so pleased to be able to build the ICA’s curatorial department with these well-deserved promotions,” said Ruth Erickson, the ICA’s Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. “In their time at the ICA, Jeff and Tessa have made invaluable contributions to the museum’s curatorial program, and we are excited to recognize their many talents and support their professional growth.”
Devoted to working closely with artists and an expert in all things books, De Blois has been part of the curatorial team on more than 30 exhibitions and 10 books at the ICA, successfully realizing some of the museum’s most ambitious projects. He curated the first U.S. solo museum exhibitions of artists Caitlin Keogh, Napoleon Jones-Henderson, and Tammy Nguyen. He has also organized solo shows with artists Rose B. Simpson, Carolina Caycedo, William Kentridge, and Raúl de Nieves, among others. De Blois is currently at work on the first retrospective dedicated to pioneering artist Charles Atlas, opening Oct. 10, 2024, and the first monograph and U.S. solo exhibition of the work of Tau Lewis, opening Aug. 29, 2024.
Haas begins her new role as Assistant Curator after working with the ICA since 2022, most recently as Curatorial Assistant and previously as Simone Leigh curatorial fellow and Graduate Student Lecturer. Prior to the ICA, she had held curatorial positions at various institutions, including the MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. This past year, she co-curated Wu Tsang: Of Whales and supported the presentation of artist Firelei Báez’s first North American museum survey, coordinating its accompanying catalogue and assisting with the exhibition’s tour. Haas brings her expertise in time-based media to her new role. She is presently working on the U.S. premiere of Christian Marclay’s Doors, on view April 17, 2025, and the 2025 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition, opening August 21, 2025.
