Daisy Nam to Lead CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

The California College of the Arts (CCA) has named Daisy Nam as the next director and chief curator of its Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. Nam arrives to the San Francisco institution from Ballroom Marfa, where she has worked as a curator since 2020 and asdirectorsince 2022. She brings with her a reputation for working with living artists to develop exhibitions, commissions, and teaching programs; as well, she is well versed in fundraising and donor cultivation. Nam will step into her new role April 1.

“CCA is thrilled to welcome Daisy Nam as the new director of the Wattis Institute,” said CCA president David Howse in a statement. “Her impressive track record, deep understanding of contemporary art, and commitment to artistic innovation align perfectly with the Institute’s mission. I am confident that under her guidance, the Wattis will continue to be a pivotal space for artistic exploration and discourse. As the completion of our campus expansion project comes to fruition this fall, bringing the Wattis Institute back on CCA’s campus will allow for even more opportunities to showcase the stellar programming and exhibitions shepherded by Daisy.”

While at Ballroom Marfa, Nam organized solo shows for Guadalupe Maravilla and Kenneth Tam and the group exhibition “Tongues of Fire,” which investigated the ways in which language has been suppressed, silenced, or obscured. She also guided the development of Ballroom Marfa’s forthcoming twentieth-anniversary publication. Before joining the Texas organization, Nam since 2015 had worked as the assistant director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, curating exhibitions by artists including Basma Alsharif, Martin Beck, Matt Keegan, Renée Green, Michelle Lopez, Will Rawls, and Kerry Tribe. Prior to her tenure there, she was assistant director of public programs at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where she organized and produced seven seasons of talks, screenings, performances, and workshops by Charles Atlas, Tania Bruguera, Nancy Holt, Isaac Julien, Ralph Lemon, Jill Magid, Aki Sasamoto, and Allan Sekula. She previously worked on fundraising initiatives for New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

“I am excited to join the California College of the Arts community and to lead the Wattis Institute, a cornerstone in the contemporary art world,” said Nam in a statement. “The Wattis has a remarkable history of presenting thoughtful and compelling work and nurturing artistic talent, with a presence in the field that reaches beyond its Bay Area location. I look forward to building on this legacy, and to be the first director working in the Wattis’s new exhibition spaces that are at the heart of the teaching and art-making community.”