Elena Ochoa Foster
Elena Ochoa, Lady Foster of Thames Bank (born Elena Fernández-Ferreiro López de Ochoa; 1958) is a Spanish publisher and art curator, and formerly a professor of psychopathology. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Ivorypress.
Career
Ochoa Foster was a tenured lecturer in Psychopathology at the Complutense University of Madrid for almost two decades and was honorary professor at King's College in London until 2001. As well as obtaining a Fulbright scholarship to undertake postdoctoral studies at the University of Illinois (Chicago) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), throughout her career she has been visiting lecturer and researcher in Psychopathology at several universities both in Europe and the United States. She has worked at RNE and Televisión Española and has been a regular contributor to several newspapers. "She was an academic psychologist specialising in sexuality with a high media profile in her native Spain - largely based on getting the Spanish to talk about sex on her television show, and ignoring the taboos about discussing [sex aids]".[1][2][3]
In 1996 in London, Ochoa Foster founded Ivorypress, a private organization that carries out publishing and curatorial activities, which comprises an art gallery, a publishing house specialising in artists' books, and a bookshop focusing on photography, architecture and contemporary art. She remains its chief executive officer.
She runs the C Photo project, whose aim is to promote photography through publications, exhibitions, and academic and institutional support. Ivorypress has sponsored the first Humanitas Visiting Professorships in Contemporary Art at the University of Oxford, founded in collaboration with the Humanitas programme.
Ochoa Foster has curated international exhibitions in close collaboration with the Ivorypress team, including C on Cities (10th Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, 2006), Blood on Paper (Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2008), Real Venice (54th Venice Art Biennale, Venice, 2011), Real Venice (Somerset House, London, 2012) and ToledoContemporánea (Fundación El Greco, Toledo, 2014).
She is a member of MoMA's Library Council and serves on the advisory board of the Prix Pictet photography award. She has been the president of the jury at the Swiss photography award, Alt+1000. She was the president of the Tate International Council for five years and a member of the Tate Foundation's board of directors from 2004 to 2008, as well as that of the Noguchi Foundation. As a patron, she supports a variety of museums and foundations including the Museo del Prado and the Teatro Real, Madrid, Spain, alongside several international schools of contemporary art and photography such as Spain's Academy of the Arts and the Cinematographic Sciences.
Ochoa Foster has collaborated on publishing, educational and artistic projects with artists such as Ai Weiwei, Claes Oldenburg, William Kentridge, Maya Lin, Thomas Struth, Cristina Iglesias, Los Carpinteros, Richard Long and Anselm Kiefer among others. She has been executive producer of several documentaries, among them How much your building weigh Mr Foster (2010) and Shooting the Mafia (2019).
She is the Chair of the Council of the Serpentine Galleries, London, UK, and serves as Correspondent Academician in Switzerland for the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
Recognition
- Special award from Architectural Digest's editorial team. Architectural Digest Spain, 2007
- Premio Alfiler de Oro, Asociación Mujer Siglo XXI. Spain, 2009.
- Montblanc Award for Women. Spain, 2010
- Award for Excellence in Publishing. Fuera de Serie, Spain, 2011.
- Gold Medal of the Reina Sofía Institute in New York. New York, USA, 2012
- Real Fundación de Toledo Award for curation for the exhibition ToledoContemporánea. Spain, 2015
- Ibero-American Award for Art Patronage. Spain, 2016
- Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award. Spain, 2016
- MujerHoy Award. Spain, 2020
Personal life
She is married to the English architect, Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank.
She lives and works between Switzerland, Spain, United Kingdom and the US.
References
- Deyan Sudjic, "Elena Ochoa: 'I don't feel I'm selling ... I'm sharing'", The Guardian, 8 January 2006.
- Carpenter, Louise (1 October 2011). "Why Elena Ochoa won't let marriage to Norman Foster slow her down". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2018-07-06 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
- Woodman, Ellis (15 August 2011). "Norman Foster: Building an Empire". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-07-06 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- Carmen Melgar. "El mito de Elena". Vogue Spain. November, 2019.
- Maite Sebastia. "5 grandes mujeres del arte nos explican la revolución femenina en el sector". SModa. November, 2017.
- Álex Rodríguez. "Me bebería todos los buenos vinos de casa". La Vanguardia. October, 2017.
- David Moralejo. "Elena Ochoa Foster, una casa con mucho arte". T Spain: The New York Times Style Magazine. May, 2017.
- Juan Cruz. "Elena Foster: 'Los artistas te dan adrenalina'". El País Semanal, El País Newspaper. March, 2017.
- Lola Fernández. "Elena Ochoa: 'Es una torpeza mental imperdonable que un gobierno no apoye las artes'". Yo Dona, El Mundo Newspaper. February, 2017.
- Garbiñe Continente. "Elena Ochoa Foster, Presidenta del Consejo de las Serpentine Galleries". Harper's Bazaar Spain. January, 2017.
- Vicky Vilches. "Elena Ochoa en defensa del mecenazgo cultural". Fuera de Serie, Expansión. June, 2016.
- 'Elena Ochoa Foster Wins Ibero-American Prize for Art Patronage'. ArtForum Magazine. 10 February 2016 ArtForum Magazine. 10 February 2016
- 'Elena Ochoa Foster, premio Iberoamericano de Mecenazgo. El jurado reconoce la labor en el Arte de la editora, comisaria y fundadora de Ivorypress'. El País newspaper. 9 February 2016. El País newspaper. 9 February 2016
- Elsa Fernández-Santos. 'Elena Ochoa Foster. El arte de reinventarse a propósito'. Harper's Bazaar. February 2016. Harper's Bazaar. February 2016
- Raphael Minder. 'Spain Pays Tribute to El Greco 400 Years After His Death'. The New York Times. April, 2014.
- Jiyoon Lee. ' 에술과 책의 융합 지휘하는 엘레나 포스터'. Sunday Magazine. February, 2014.
- IOANA NICOLAESCU. 'Lady di stile. Intervista a Elena Ochoa Foster fondatice di Ivorypress e moglie dell'archistar Norman Foster'. Elle Italy. July, 2013.
- Beatriz Fabián. 'Elena Ochoa. El mercado del arte está más activo que nunca'. Nuevo Estilo Magazine. July, 2012.
- Almudena Ávalos, 'Ivorypress. Una editorial de culto. Descubrimos el trabajo diario de la ambiciona empresa fundada por Elena Ochoa'. S Moda Magazine, El País newspaper. 26 January 2011.
- Paula Achiaga, 'Elena Ochoa: Ivorypress no tiene referente. Es un referente. nació para provocar'. El Cultural, El Mundo newspaper. 7 January 2001.
- Isabel Lafont, 'Arte en los confines de la literatura. Los libros de artista editados por Elena Ochoa tratan de llevar al extremo la creatividad de sus autores', El País newspaper. 10 November 2010.
- Christine Murray, "Christine Murray interviews Elena Ochoa Foster at the opening of V&A's Blood on Paper", Architects' Journal. 227.17 (May 1, 2008): p52-53. Gale Document Number: GALE|A179953939
- Martin Gayford, 'Blood on Paper: Who needs words?'. The Telegraph. 12 April 2008.
- María Martínez, 'Elena Foster. Coleccionista de almas'. Personas de Confianza. March, 2005.
- Bettina von Hase, 'Making book. With the rarefied productions of her Ivorypress, Elena Foster is taking the concept of the artist's book to a new level'. Art + Auction. June, 2005.
- Jesús Rodríguez, 'El arte de Lady Foster'. El País semanal, El País newspaper. January, 2005.
- Samantha Conti, 'Fit to print'. W Magazine. December, 2004.
- Javier Fdez. de Angulo, 'La pasión de Lady Foster'. Vogue Spain. August, 2004.
- Ralf Eibl, "IM ELFENBEINTURM - Mit ihrem Ivorypress produziert Lady Foster spektakuläre Bücher für die Ewigkeit". Architectural Digest (Germany). June, 2004.
- Richard Cork. "The Ivory Tower", The Times (United Kingdom), Feb 21, 2004. Biographical piece about Elena Ochoa Foster.
- "Lady Foster follows her art", Daily Telegraph, Oct. 21, 2003. Gale Document Number: GALE|A109048067. Brief piece about Elena Ochoa Foster.
External links
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