Hamza Walker Wins CCS Bard’s 2026 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence
72Dec. 12, 2025
The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard), in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, has named curator, writer, and educator Hamza Walkerthe winner of the 2026Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. The honor, presented annually since 1998, recognizes “outstanding curatorial achievements of individuals bringing innovative thinking, bold vision, and dedicated service to the field of exhibition-making,” per a press release, and is accompanied by a $25,000 prize.
Walker, whose interest in art was spurred by the experimental music and performance scene of 1980s Chicago, has since 2016 served as the director of the Brick (known as LAXARTuntil 2024) in Los Angeles. Among the recent exhibitions he’s organized at the nonprofit art space are “Elizabeth Paige Smith: Unshade Me of You” and “Gregg Bordowitz: This Is Not A Love Song (both 2025); “The Absolute Right to Exclude: Reflections on and Implications of Cheryl Harris’ Whiteness as Property” (2021); and “Postcommodity: Some Reach While Others Clap” (2020). From 1994 to 2016, he was associate curator and director of education at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. During his tenure there, he mounted surveys of artists including Mai-Thu Perret. He holds a BA in art history from the University of Chicago.
“Hamza’s three decades of curatorial practice have brought forward voices and perspectives that challenge dominant narratives, create dialogue, and have left a lasting imprint on the field,” said CCS Bard executive director Tom Eccles in a statement. “CCS Bard is thrilled to present this award to a curator whose practice reflects a shared mission of harnessing art to engage critically with the world around us.”