Bury’s new Sculpture Centre announces international guest curator

Bury’s new Sculpture Centre, due to open in May, has announced its first international guest curator.

David Thorp will be working on the centre’s second exhibition – a celebration of European and Chinese contemporary sculpture, opening in the autumn.

The centre is due to host three festivals and a global conference in 2014, bringing the best in international art to local audiences, and attracting cultural tourism and visitor spend.

Councillor Jane Lewis, cabinet member for leisure, tourism and culture, said: “We’re delighted to have such a high profile arts professional working with us on this exciting project. Programming at this level is an important part of drawing more visitors to Bury, and putting the borough firmly on the map for international art. Tourism is a large part of Bury’s economy, and such attractions should give a welcome boost to local business and ultimately employment.”

David has been the Director of Chisenhale Gallery, London; The Showroom, London; The South London Gallery; Curator of Contemporary Projects at the Henry Moore Foundation and International Adjunct Curator PS1 MoMA, New York.

He was Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2008/09 and Curator of the Sculpture Park for the Frieze Art Fair in London from 2005 to 2011. In 2012/2013 he was the Director at Modern Art Oxford, UK and Associate Director of Artes Mundi, Cardiff, UK. He also holds the position of Associate Curator at Platform China, Beijing.

David Thorp is currently working on several exhibitions for 2014/15, including a survey of British Art from 1988 to 1998 for the Ekatarina Foundation in Moscow. Thorp writes extensively on contemporary art and has sat on numerous juries for art awards including the Turner Prize, UK in 2004, and the Kandinsky Prize, Russia in 2012-14.

Tony Trehy, arts manager at Bury Council, added: “It’s a great feather in Bury’s cap that, at the same time as David is working in Bury, he’s also programming in Moscow. The exhibition will coincide with the International Sculpture Conference in October this year, which will draw more than 150 delegates to Bury from Europe and the Far East.”

Coming up at the Sculpture centre in 2014:

• The first exhibition will feature the work of Lawrence Weiner, and take place during the Text Festival (May-July). One of the borough’s existing international profile events, this draws artists, visitors and media attention from as far away as Taiwan, Scandinavia, Russia, and north America.

• The second exhibition is part of the Manchester Asia Triennial Festival, the only festival of Asian Art outside Asia, led by Manchester University. This will be a mixed exhibition of work from Europe and China, accompanied by exhibitions of Japanese art in the main gallery upstairs and Chinese photography from Beijing in one of the smaller galleries.

• Keen to engage with library users, the Sculpture Centre will curate an exhibition of international knitting art and related crafts. The libraries’ Knit and Natter groups will be invited to play a key role in this, and the project will include spaces for community activity and education programmes tailored to these groups.

ENDS

Press release issued: 3 February 2014.