Curator Beatrix Ruf will receive the Agnes Gund Award this year from Independent Curators International. Meanwhile, the Leo Award will be given to Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of LACMA.

Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Ruf has organized shows featuring the work of Laura Owens, Isa Genzken, Yang Fudong, Ian Wallace, Sturtevant, and Rosemarie Trockel, among others. From 2001 to 2014, she ran the Kunsthalle Zürich, overseeing the venue’s expansion.

“For the past twenty years, Ruf has been among those who have expanded the curatorial role in all directions. With the Agnes Gund Curatorial Award, we honor her commitment to enriching art history, championing emerging artists, developing more ways to experience art, building new structures, and to establishing strong support for critical discourse around contemporary practice,” states Renaud Proch, ICI’s executive director.

Past winners of the award included Germano Celant, Matthew Higgs, Robert Storr, Alanna Heiss, Roselee Goldberg, Lynne Cooke, and Okwui Enwezor.