Bruce W. Ferguson Papers

Bruce Willis Ferguson (1946-2019) was a curator, critic, and academic well known for his work curating dozens of national and international exhibitions, as well as for his leadership roles in numerous art institutions.

Ferguson was born in Canada and received his B.A. in Art History from the University of Saskatchewan, and his M.A. in Communication from McGill University in Montreal. He received an honorary doctorate from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2006. From 1989-1990 Ferguson worked with Marieluise Hessel, art collector and co-founder of the Center for Curatorial Studies and Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, in developing a video and film component of her art collection. Ferguson advocated for the pedagogical importance of including works in these formats in an art collection utilized by curatorial studies students. Ferguson was also involved in some of the early planning meetings for the development of the MA program in curatorial studies at CCS Bard. In 1992 Ferguson received a Getty Senior Research Fellowship grant alongside Reesa Greenberg and Sandy Nairne. Using the grant they published the seminal essay anthology on exhibition theory and curatorial studies, Thinking About Exhibitions (Routledge: 1996). He was the founding director and first biennial curator of SITE Santa Fe in New Mexico (1993). In 1999 Ferguson was named dean of Columbia University School of the Arts in New York. Ferguson taught at numerous institutions, such as the sculpture department at Yale University, and the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the former president and executive director of the New York Academy of Art. In the 2000s Ferguson led the formation of Future Arts Research (F.A.R.) at the University of Arizona where he commissioned works by numerous artists, including choreographer Elizabeth Streb’s 2010 performance, STREB: BRAVE, facilitated dialogue across disciplines and amongst the university and the greater community in Phoenix, and helped realize a vision for international arts research and cultural dialogue through symposia and artists’ residencies.

In 2010 Ferguson left his position as director of F.A.R. work as dean of humanities and social sciences at the American University in Cairo where he worked until 2013. In 2013 he left Cairo when he was named vice chairman at Louise Blouin Media. While on the board there he provided editorial oversight for publications such as Art + Auction and Modern Painters. In 2015 Ferguson was named president of Otis College of Art and Design. He stepped down from his position as president in 2019.

In addition to his work in institutions, Ferguson was a critic, writer, and curator for more than thirty years. He curated over 35 exhibitions for institutions such as the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, the Winnipeg and Vancouver Art Galleries in Canada, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. He organized exhibitions in the international biennales of São Paulo, Sydney, Venice, and Istanbul. His writing was published in numerous art publications, including Canadian Art,Artforum,Art in America,Art + Text,Flash Art,Bomb Magazine, Art Press,and Parachute.