Performance Research Network roundtable discussion #3 hosted by the Liverpool Biennial

Speakers: Dr Harold Offeh (Artist), Nikita Gill (Artist), Julie-Ann Delaney (Art Collections Curator at The University of Edinburgh)

Chaired by Dr Samantha Lackey (Director of the Liverpool Biennial)

Friday 9 July at 1-2:15pm on Zoom

The aim of the Performance Research Network is to further the discourse around how performance practices are presented and sustainably supported.

Initiated by Block Universe in partnership with founding members Liverpool Biennial and Glasgow International, we are a curatorial-led and process-oriented research network, with a commitment to anti-racist work.

We aim to advance thought leadership in the field, with a view to exploring models of co-commissioning performance and live events, and sustainably supporting artistic practice in partnership with artists and other stakeholders.

Supported by Art Fund.

About the Speakers

Harold Offeh (b. 1977, Ghana)is an artist working across performance, video, photography, learning and social arts practice. Offeh is interested in the space created by the inhabiting or embodying of histories. He employs humour as a means to confront the viewer with historical narratives and contemporary culture, grappling with issues such as colonialism, the dynamics of work, labour and gender, and challenging ideals of masculine power. Offeh lives and works in Cambridge and London. Offeh has exhibited widely including at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, South London Gallery, Turf Projects, Kettle’s Yard, Wysing Art Centre, Studio Museum Harlem, MAC VAL, France, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark, Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, and Art Tower Mito. Offeh is Reader in Fine Art at Leeds Beckett University and a Tutor at the Royal College of Art. In 2019 he was a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists, the largest award of its kind in the UK.

Nikita Gill is a creative and curator in training with the International Institute of Visual Arts (INIVA) and Manchester Art Gallery. She received her MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Manchester in 2019. Her previous work includes support of the exhibition and development of Excavating the Reno (2017 – 2018), Portraits of Recovery with David Hoyle and Mark Prest (2017), Bodies of Colour (2018) and Joy Forever (2019) at the Whitworth Art Gallery. She has developed and supported performances for Block Universe (2020) Jade Montserrat (2021) and Glasgow International (2021). Nikita is interested in decolonial practices, centred on care within the context of art gallery collections. Currently Nikita is working on Future Collect, supporting Jade Montserrat’s commission by INIVA to produce a body of work focusing on care as an act of resisting oppression and silence. Nikita Gill is also a member of the Black Curators Collective.

Julie-Ann Delaney is Art Collections Curator at the University of Edinburgh, a post she took up in early 2019. Prior to joining the University, Julie-Ann was Senior Curator (Modern and Contemporary Art) at the National Galleries of Scotland. She has also held roles at Dundee Contemporary Arts, and at the Artist-Run initiative Generator Projects. She is currently working on a programme of joint performance art acquisitions with the National Galleries of Scotland, funded through a New Collecting Award from the Art Fund. Julie-Ann is also part of the Curatorial Leadership in Collections (CLiC) group, an action research and advocacy project aimed at highlighting and quantifying the wide-ranging impact of contemporary collecting and programming in Scotland.

Dr Samantha Lackey is Director if Liverpool Biennial. Lackey was Head of Collection and Exhibitions at the Whitworth (University of Manchester), where she was senior lead on the Leadership Team. Previously, she was curator at The Hepworth Wakefield (2010-16) where she delivered 40 exhibitions over 4 years as part of the team that opened the gallery in 2011 to critical acclaim. She received a PhD on the subject of surrealism in 2005, which was the context for her work as a lecturer, research fellow and her first exhibition at the Whitworth, Subversive Spaces: Surrealism and Contemporary Art.

About Liverpool Biennial

Liverpool Biennial is the largest and longest-running festival of contemporary visual art in the UK. Since its inception in 1998, the Biennial has become renowned in the international contemporary art world, bringing together a wide array of international voices and artistic practices. Taking place every two years, Liverpool Biennial activates public institutions, historical sites and extraordinary locations across Liverpool, ensuring major commissions in the public realm. Pioneering an innovative approach underpinned by a year-round programme of research, education, residencies, projects and commissions, each biennial edition introduces renewed thinking and scale of production. Having commissioned over 340 new artworks and presented work by over 480 celebrated artists from around the world, the Biennial is built on a longstanding commitment to connecting international artists with local practitioners, communities and the general public. Liverpool Biennial is supported by Arts Council England, Liverpool City Council and founding supporter John Moores.

For more information visit: www.biennial.com or www.liverpoolbiennial2021.co.uk

About Block Universe

Block Universe is London’s leading international performance art event and commissioning body. The festival brings together cutting-edge performance art at the cross-section of contemporary visual art, dance and music, held in major institutions and venues across London, and has built a reputation for launching the careers of a new generation of artists and actively contributing to the local and international performance art scene.

For more information visit: http://blockuniverse.co.uk

About Glasgow International

Glasgow International festival of contemporary visual art will take place from 11 – 27 June 2021. Originally scheduled to open in April 2020, the festival comprises over 70 exhibitions and events, performances and talks over 30 spaces across the city and online, showcasing work by over 100 artists.

For more information visit: https://glasgowinternational.org/