Founding Wex Curator Bill Horrigan Passes Away
The Ohio State University arts community is saddened to announce that former Curator at Large Bill Horrigan passed away on May 15.
One of the founding curators of the Wexner Center for the Arts, Horrigan established the center’s Department of Film/Video and its Art & Technology residency program (later known as the Film/Video Studio) and set the tone for the center’s adventurous and wide-ranging film programming.
Horrigan went on to curate many notable exhibitions and screenings for the center featuring artists such as Julia Scher, Paper Tiger Television, and Chris Marker, with whom he produced two exhibitions including Silent Movie, one of the center’s most traveled exhibitions. Another exhibition that he curated and meant a lot to him was 2001’s Johan van der Keuken: From The Body and the City, featuring the Dutch documentary filmmaker, photographer, and author. Horrigan also championed the work of such artists and filmmakers as Sadie Benning, Mark Dion, William E. Jones, Josiah McElheny, Catherine Opie, Elisabeth Subrin, sometimes from very early in their careers.
Known for his elegant writing, intellectual commitment, and incredibly modest, generous demeanor, he served as a mentor to many on our staff and in the artworld at large. He was essential in turning the multidisciplinary experiment that was the early Wexner Center into an enduring reality.
Papers and scholarly writings from Bill’s time as curator are preserved in the Wexner Center for the Arts’ archive.