Palm Beach ICA closing its doors

Art in America, March, 2005 by Stephanie Cash, David Ebony

After a five-year run, the privately funded Palm Beach institute of Contemporary Art will close its doors on Mar. 27. As reported in the Palm Beach Daily News, attorney Robert Montgomery--who founded the institution along with his wife, Mary--said that costs of running the museum are too high and visitors too few. Weekend attendance figures were reported at 10 to 15 people per day, and even fewer during the week. Montgomery has been paying $100,000 a month to keep the doors open.

Though the ICA has been well received critically, the Montgomerys were unable to attract board members to support the center. Last year the couple sought unsuccessfully to have another museum take over the space, which prompted then-director Michael Rush to resign. Rush had been praised for his exhibition program, which included innovative solo shows of Marjetica Potrc, Sue Williams and the Smiths (David, Kiki and Seton). According to the Daily News, acting director Sidney Brien said that last summer Robert Montgomery directed him to stop filling out applications to obtain nonprofit status, indicating uncertainty about the founders' long-term commitment to the project. In a statement to the press, the ICA noted that the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach has recently hired Mark Rosenthal, formerly of the National Gallery of Art, as adjunct curator for contemporary art, and has increased its contemporary art acquisitions, potentially maintaining a presence for new art in the area.

The ICA's final exhibition, 'I Feel Mysterious Today," a group show guest-curated by Dominic Molon of the Chicago MCA, remains on view through Mar. 27.