Gregor Muir is Director of Collection, International Art, at Tate, having previously been the Executive Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London from 2011 until 2016. He was previously director of the commercial art galleryHauser & Wirth, in London. He is author of the 2009 memoir Lucky Kunst, in which he recalls experiences in the YBAart scene and life in 1990s London.
Life and career
While he was Director of the ICA, Gregor Muir was responsible for exhibitions by Isa Genzken, Betty Woodman, Lis Rhodes, David Robilliard, Prem Sahib, Trojan, Bruce Nauman and Dennis Morris. At Hauser & Wirth, Muir curated and produced exhibitions of works by Henry Moore, Andy Warhol, Joan Mitchell, Francis Picabia, and emerging artists such as Jakub Julian Ziolkowski and Zhang Enli. 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, 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, including a special focus on Robert Morris' 1971 Tate Gallery exhibition and Carl Andre's 'Equivalent' series. 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. In 1997, Muir worked at the Lux Gallery in Hoxton Square, in the emerging cultural quarter of Shoreditch, showing works by artist such as Kutlug Ataman, Jane & Louise Wilson, jodi.org and Carsten Holler. In 1997, he co-curated 'Assuming Positions' at the ICA London, featuring works by Jorge Pardo, Tobias Rehberger and Piotr Uklański. 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. Gregor Muir is listed in Guess Who. He has also been a writer for numerous artist catalogues, as well as having previously contributed to parkett and freize magazine.