Now London has a new art-dealer-turned-museum-director, too. The city's Institute of Contemporary Arts has appointed Gregor Muir, director of Hauser & Wirth's London gallery, as its new head — meaning that, in addition to navigating the gap between the commercial and curatorial spheres, Muir will inherit an institution in crisis, which was almost forced to close last year due to financial troubles. The former executive director, Ekow Eshun, a broadcaster and journalist who had held the post since 2005, resigned in August, as did the chair of the board. Muir's appointment was announced today, and he will take the reins of the ICA on February 7.

Muir has bounced back and forth between the gallery and museum worlds. At Hauser & Wirth since 2004, he was previously a contemporary art curator at Tate, where he co-curated "Time Zones," a show dedicated to the moving image at Tate Modern, and "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida," with Damien Hirst, Angus Fairhurst, and Sarah Lucas at Tate Britain. In 1997, Muir founded Lux Gallery in London, which put on shows by Kutlug Altman, Carsten Höller, and Jane and Louise Wilson. He also has prior experience at the ICA, having co-curated a 1997 show there, "Assuming Positions." ICA chair Alison Myners said in a statement that Muir "brings to the ICA many years of experience from both public and private sectors at a time when knowledge of both is so important."

Muir is expected to bring a closer focus on visual arts to the ICA, which was founded in 1947 as a multidisciplinary arts center by a collective of artists, poets, and writers, and includes two galleries, two cinemas, a theater, a reading room, bookstore, and café/bar. In his book, "Lucky Kunst: The Rise and Fall of Young British Art," Muir recounts his participation in the early days of the YBA scene and traces its development. The Guardian's Jonathan Jones praised the hire in his blog today, writing that the ICA had tried in recent years to promote lesser-known artists and post-YBA factions, but is now likely to show "big names and hot global art," which he declared to be "a good recipe for this venerable home of the British avant-garde to reclaim its laurels."

In the current harsh and divisive economic climate, the ICA's future — like that of other British cultural institutions — is somewhat clouded. It receives £1.4 million ($2.2 million) in funding from Arts Council England, and will have to re-apply for support in a new funding structure, according to The Guardian. In 2008, the ICA abolished its entrance fee, but that policy may have to be revisited in the future.

Muir's appointment finds an across-the-pond parallel in Los Angeles MOCA's hire last year of art dealer Jeffrey Deitch as its new director, a move made in the hope that the entrepreneurial gallerist would be able to bring new life to the financially unsteady institution.

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