Five shortlisted candidates for the position, which became available when Mr Dodd announced his resignation last summer, were interviewed at Tate Britain this week. A source close to the selection process confirmed Mr Obrist was the chosen name, but added: "He hasn't signed a contract."
A spokesperson for the ICA said that the institution's council "have not confirmed it, and they are the ones responsible for the decision". A meeting of the ICA council is scheduled for next week.
Mr Obrist, 36, is based at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, but has been a prolific and highly energetic curator of successful shows across Europe. Adrian Searle, the Guardian's art critic, described his 1999 exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum in London - in which contemporary art was displayed in the 18th-century architect's antiquities-filled house - as "an exemplary, poetic show". He has also curated a Gerhard Richter show in Nietzsche's house.
His experience is firmly in the realm of the visual arts rather than in cinema, performance and theatre - all important components of the ICA's output. He will need diplomacy to deal with the staff at an institution that one insider described as "neurotic and dysfunctional".
Though Mr Dodd increased visitor numbers and balanced the books, his artistic judgment has been questioned.
Eyebrows were raised about the staging of ErotICA, a two-day event which included seminars on how to start a sex magazine.
Exhibitions have been variable and One Hundred Artists See God, the last major show, was described by Searle as "one of the worst-installed exhibitions I have ever seen".
