About this Event
Join us for Are curators still relevant? the third of a series of events as part of Assembly, an online learning and development programme for curators, producers and public art practitioners that explore issues and good practice in relation to the expanded field of public art.
In a field where activism, community involvement and participation play an increasingly important role in the way projects are developed, do curators need to rethink their roles?
If we consider the expanded field of public art (including performance, experimental writing, and digital projects), are curators equipped with the tools to do their job imaginatively and practically? How is the burgeoning growth of curating courses affecting the sector?
This event will be made up of five short presentations by invited curators, who will reflect on how their role has changed, and how they foresee it changing in future years.
Are curators still relevant? is chaired by Jes Fernie, independent curator and writer. Speakers include Laurie Peake, Director: Super Slow Way; Kiera Blakey, Head of Exhibitions: Nottingham Contemporary; Bolanle Tajudeen, Independent curator and art adviser and Rachel Anderson, caretaker: Idle Women.
All Assembly events will take place in The Hall, UP Projects’ digital participation space.
Assembly has been developed by UP Projects in collaboration with Public Art Network UK (PAN) and is generously supported by The Art Fund. The programme has been put together by Jes Fernie, Elisabeth Del Prete, Theresa Bergne and Emma Underhill.
Accessibility
Live captioning and British Sign Language interpretation will be available at this event. Should you require British Sign Language interpretation please email info@upprojects in advance of the event so we can ensure to provide you with dedicated access links to the event.
About Jes Fernie
Jes Fernie (she/her) is an independent curator and writer with twenty-five years’ experience of working with galleries, architectural practices, and public realm organisations on public programmes, commissioning schemes, exhibitions and residency projects across the UK and abroad. Working primarily beyond gallery walls, she’s interested in an expansive idea of contemporary artistic practice, which encompasses dialogue, research and engagement. She collaborates with artists on texts, conversations and projects, and often commissions experimental texts by writers for programmes. She works at a strategic level advising on commissioning programmes and city-wide cultural activities with the GLA, Olympic Park, Fourth Plinth programme, Tate, Arts Council England, and local authorities. She is a member of many art commissioning selection panels and has worked as a curator, writer, and lecturer with organisations including Focal Point Gallery, Museum of London, Flat Time House, Serpentine Gallery, RIBA, Turf Projects, Manchester International Festival, Seventeen Gallery, Milton Keynes Gallery, Matt's Gallery, St Paul's Cathedral, Central St Martins, Goldsmiths, University of Essex, Lund Cathedral, and the RCA.
About Laurie Peake
Laurie Peake (she/her) is a curator specializing in the development of large-scale projects in public spaces with artists in collaboration with communities. She is currently Director of Super Slow Way, one of Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programmes, located along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal corridor in Pennine Lancashire. She came to Super Slow Way after working with Metabolic Studio, Los Angeles to deliver an ambitious project on the LA River. Previously, Laurie was Director of Projects and Programmes at Liverpool Biennial for 10 years where she developed strategic partnerships to deliver temporary and permanent commissions with international artists in public spaces across Merseyside. Projects such as Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Beach and Jeanne Van Heeswijk’s 2Up2Down which created the Community Land Trust and bakery, Homebaked, in Liverpool, were all notable for their transformative effects.
In the 1980s Laurie was one of a small team that set up Tate Liverpool, often cited as the UK's first heritage regeneration project to use culture as its driving force. She later went on to work with Alsop Architects on a host of regeneration projects in post-industrial towns and cities across the North of England. Laurie holds a BA and MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art.
About Kiera Blakey
Kiera Blakey (she/her) is Head of Exhibitions (maternity) at Nottingham Contemporary. Between 2015-2020 she was Curator at Art on the Underground, and 2012-2014 Research and Public Programmes Curator at the London School of Economics where she led a multi-disciplinary programme with Professor Richard Sennett. She has curated exhibitions and projects at Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea; The Showroom, London and established a project space for early career artists between 2012-2015. Kiera has written and edited publications with Book Works, Self Published Be Happy and Camden Arts Centre and has been a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, Wimbledon College of Art and University of Bath.
About Bolanle Tajudeen
Bolanle Tajudeen (she/her) is the founder of Black Blossoms – an expanded curatorial platform showcasing contemporary Black non-binary artists and Black women since 2015. She is also a lead tutor of Art in the Age of Black Girl Magic, an in-depth course on Black womxn artists. In 2020 Bolanle launched the Black Blossoms School of Art and Culture, an e-learning platform that aims to decolonise, deconstruct and democratise creative learning.
About Rachel Anderson
Rachel Anderson (she/her) is an artist who co-creates contemporary public art outside of and in critical relation to the Institution. In 2015 Cis O’Boyle and Rachel Anderson established Idle Women as a new artistic collaboration. Initiated as a one off project to create and tour a narrow boat Idle Women has developed into a complex body of connected work created through collaborations with women.
Current work includes a major landscaping project to transform a stretch of canal side land into the Physic Garden in Lancashire, the Physic Garden Network – a bespoke digital art platform in collaboration with Charmian Griffin and Petrichor - a series of site-specific performances articulating A Case For Land supported by Jerwood Arts - New Work Fund. Rachel’s practice is founded by her experience as a youth worker on the Queensbridge Estate, E.London. She established the education and outreach programme at South London Gallery and spent 8 years as producer of Collaborative Projects at Artangel where she developed projects which include The Museum of Non Participation with Noor Afshan Mirza and Brad Butler and A Tender Subject with Mark Storor, which saw the culmination of three years work with gay prisoners and prison officers across the UK in a live devised performance below Smithfield meat market.
