Independent curator
Image/design Jeremy Betchel: Open Dialogues
I am a curator and writer who works at the interface of exhibitions, gallery education and the live. As a curator I work specifically with emerging contemporary artists and organisations who make socially engaged, participatory and live work.
As Open Dialogues, I have developed critical writing initiatives, open forums and education programmes in collaboration with New Life Berlin (Germany, 2008), The National Review of Live Art (Scotland, 2007 and 2008), SPILL Festival (England, 2007 and 2009) and ArtsAdmin (England, 2007). In 2007 I was awarded an Arts Council England grant to be a Writing Live Fellow for the Performa 07 International Biennial of Performance Art in New York.
I don't see my writing and curating as separate practices, both are an extension of my interest in combined arts programming and new work, whether on and off the page. Live, participatory or time based work needs greater publicity, resourcing and critical dialogue at its heart. It also requires a careful relationship with critical theory; hence I turn to writing, and producing critical writing initiatives, as well as curating.