Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is excited to announce the appointment of its new CEO, Hannah Mathews.
Following an extensive search to fill this leadership role, PICA’s Board has appointed Mathews, a nationally respected curator, writer, and academic, with an international profile. She joins PICA from Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), where she has been Senior Curator since 2016, and will commence her new role as CEO in December 2022.
Previously, Mathews has held key curatorial positions at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Biennale of Sydney and Next Wave Festival. Mathews knows PICA well, having served as Curator from 2005–08.
She has sat on several boards, including the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA); undertaken international curatorial residencies in New York, Berlin, and Tokyo; and taught at Melbourne University, Monash University, and RMIT University.
Of the appointment, PICA Chair Mark Clapham says: “We’re thrilled to have Hannah join us from MUMA. Hannah’s well known for her interest in cross-disciplinary practice, working inside and outside of gallery and museum spaces, and impressive track record of delivering ambitious projects.
“We’re all very excited by Hannah’s energy and the new ideas that she proposes to inject into PICA’s visual and performing arts programs.
“As PICA moves into its new stage of growth and expansion, Hannah will be well-placed to bring her national and international experience to elevate PICA’s position in the local, national, and global arts landscape.
“WA has a growing appetite for culture – our state ranks third in Australia for cultural event attendance – making Perth a clear contender to become one of the nation’s cultural capitals, and PICA is set to be part of this.”
On joining PICA, Mathews says: “I am very excited to be returning to Perth after 15 years to take up the role of PICA’s CEO. PICA is a unique Australian organisation that has much to offer artists and audiences, both in WA and across the country.”
“Importantly, Perth is undergoing a critical period of cultural diversification and change. It’s a great privilege to lead the organisation through this next chapter, which will be shaped by connection, collaboration, and PICA’s enduring spirit of experimentation.”
As WA’s independent home of contemporary arts, PICA presents a broad interdisciplinary program of exhibitions, performances, and public programs. Working at the forefront of culture and ideas, PICA drives critical conversations with free thinkers and fresh voices. PICA is committed to contributing to a sustainable, equitable future by creating inspiring, thought-provoking experiences that enrich broad and diverse communities.
Hannah Mathews takes the helm following the departure of Amy Barrett-Lennard, who led PICA for 16 years. Mathews will commence as CEO on Monday 5 December 2022.
For further information and to arrange an interview with PICA Chair Mark Clapham or incoming-CEO Hannah Mathews, please contact:
Sam Leung
Communications Manager
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
08 9228 6307 | sam.leung@pica.org.au
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Hannah Mathews Biography
Since 2016 Hannah Mathews has worked as Senior Curator at Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Melbourne, where she has overseen the organisation’s artistic program. Her recent exhibitions include Shelley Lasica: WHEN I AM NOT THERE (2022), the first survey of an Australian choreographer; Vivienne Binns: On and through the Surface (2022), co-curated with Anneke Jaspers; D and Kate Harding: Through a lens of visitation (2021–22); Agatha Gothe-Snape: The Outcome is Certain (2020); and Shapes of Knowledge (2019). Hannah’s recent editorial projects include award-winning publications on Shelley Lasica, Vivienne Binns, D Harding, Agatha Gothe-Snape, and Derek Kreckler.
Hannah has held key curatorial positions at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Next Wave and Biennale of Sydney. From 2005–08 she worked as Curator at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). Hannah has sat on several boards, including the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and, in 2020, completed the Asialink Leadership Program. She has undertaken curatorial residencies at Creative Time, New York; Berlin Biennale, Kunst-Werke; and Arts Initiative Tokyo, and has taught in the curatorial programs at Melbourne University, Monash University, and RMIT University, Melbourne.
In 2013 Hannah initiated Sharing Space, an occasional program that engages with choreography and the visual arts. To date this program has presented a seminar with Andre Lepecki; a workshop and publication focused on notation across disciplines; Action/Response, a two-night cross-disciplinary program for the 2013 Dance Massive Festival; a workshop and performance of Yvonne Rainer’s Trio A in Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney; and Trisha Brown’s Early Works in Melbourne. Her book, To Note: Notation across disciplines, won the inaugural Cornish Family Prize in 2017. Hannah is currently a chief investigator on the ARC Linkage Grant, Precarious Movements: Choreography in the Museum.
About Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA)
Over its more than 30-year history, PICA has been both a producing and presenting organisation, delivering an annual program of changing exhibitions, seasons in contemporary dance, experimental theatre, new music, and live art as well as a range of artist-in-residence programs.
Its programs are crafted to ensure connections are forged not only between artists and audiences but across art forms, cultures, and geographies. For artists, audiences, and the other communities it serves, PICA is a source of inspiration, a resource, a meeting and gathering place, a provocateur and most importantly a partner in the realisation of big and new ideas, and a site for challenging and timely conversations.
