To further develop our approach to exhibition-making and supporting the next generation of creatives within contemporary art and digital culture, we are looking to work with an external curator over the next 10 months. This position will be embedded within the FACT team and will work on deliverables across the programme.
Our aim with this role is to continue to present different perspectives on the intersection of art, science and technology. FACT is committed to presenting work from diverse perspectives which considers not only our present relationships with technology, but also what our futures might hold. We seek to strengthen our artistic programme by opening up the organisation – our staff, communities and audiences – to new ways of creating and sharing knowledge.
DELIVERABLES
The Curator in Residence will work alongside the exhibitions and learning teams to curate and develop specific areas of our artistic programme for 2022.
This will be through a mixture of:
- Curating an exhibition and public programme (within the Radical Ancestry theme) which resonate with our local audiences and bring new references and ways of working into the organisation
- Collaborating with the FACT team on existing and/or new projects with a view to present these within the 2022 Programme
This breaks down into the following deliverables, supported and produced by the FACT team:
1. EXHIBITION
Curating a major exhibition at FACT with one or two artists (or a collective), either developing a new immersive commission, or producing an ambitious restaging of existing works for presentation in our largest ground floor gallery space, Gallery 1. These can be (but aren’t limited to) artists with whom you already have a relationship or are developing work.
The exhibition will open in July 2022, for 3 months. The successful applicant will design the curatorial framework, choose the artists, and be on site for the installation and opening of the exhibition. They will be supported by the team at FACT, who will handle all day-to-day production, design of floor plans and technical troubleshooting, advertising, promotion and support with writing of interpretation etc. guided by the curator’s vision and approach.
The starting point for this show, thematically, comes from the following keywords: belonging, futurisms, world-building, non-Western science fiction, fantasy, creation, speculative fiction, forward-looking, visionary futures. We will prioritise curatorial proposals which recognise, and engage with, the need to urgently claim space for non-white practitioners, and a refocusing on more global futures within these types of programmes.
In terms of audience engagement, the exhibition should meet (and play with) the expectations of our summer audiences. This includes a lot of families and young people who might not usually access contemporary art within a gallery setting – both from Liverpool, and visitors to the city.
2. PUBLIC PROGRAMME
Curating a series of related events for the exhibition, both with the commissioned artists and any other projects which are relevant to the theme and brief. This will involve designing the framework for the events and having initial artist conversations, then handing over production to the FACT team.
The residency duration runs for most of the exhibition, to allow development of ideas throughout the events programme, creating opportunities for different ways to engage FACT’s audiences.
3. SELECTION PANEL
The Curator in Residence will take part in a final selection panel to award 3 Jerwood Arts x FACT Digital Fellowships to emerging / mid-career artists who apply through an open call. This will involve the curator’s input into the call brief, assessing approximately 15 shortlisted applications, and a selection discussion. All applications will be within the Radical Ancestry theme and will be developed through a 4-month digital residency by the FACT team for presentation within Gallery 2 during July – December 2022. During the fellows’ residency, we would also ask the Curator in Residence to hold one or two short mentor sessions with the artists.
4. WORKING WITH US
Working with our exhibitions, learning and marketing teams to help develop connections between your approach and existing commissions and programmes. A large part of this will involve engaging with the participants and groups that we work with in Liverpool, and with whom our learning team are producing artist-led commissions. This will ground your vision within Liverpool, and give a better understanding of FACT’s ethos and position to working with artists, participants and audiences.
We have set out this brief to maximise your immersion into all areas of what we do, and to ensure the summer programme at FACT feels well structured, cohesive and relevant. However, we understand some applicants might want to focus more on other areas of FACT’s outputs as the residency develops, and we are very open to ongoing reassessment within the collaboration.
The residency can be a mixture of digital and physical but we would like to ensure you are able to spend as much time as possible in Liverpool, getting to know everything about FACT: our team, programme, building, audiences and communities.
BUDGET
£7500 Curator in Residence Fee
£2000 Travel and Accommodation Costs
£500 Research Costs
The fee is based on a rate of £200-250 per day, giving approximately 30 days for work on the various projects.
All artist fees, artwork production, exhibition installation and event delivery costs are paid by FACT. The budget for the exhibition is consistent with our usual major commissions and exhibitions.
TIMELINE
Deadline for open call: Midnight Sunday 24 October 2021
Shortlisting and Selection: w/c Monday 1 November
Initial meetings and contracting: w/c Monday 8 November
IMPORTANT DATES
Deadline for final curatorial proposal with confirmed artists and works: Wednesday 1 December 2021
Jerwood Arts x FACT Digital FellowshipOpen Call Selection panel: Early December 2021
Summer Exhibition at FACT: July 2022 – October 2022
Curator in Residence Public Programme at FACT: July 2022 – October 2022
Evaluation of process and exhibition: November 2022
ABOUT RADICAL ANCESTRY
From 2018, FACT’s Programme has focused on questioning systems of power and the control of narratives and ideas. Within this context, FACT launches its 2021/22 programme, Radical Ancestry. This year-long programme focuses on ideas of belonging: reconsidering the role our biological and cultural heritages play in shaping our identities.
In the aftermath of a global pandemic, we are more aware of how technology has changed how we think about ourselves, the people around us, and the places we call home. History, geography, biology and culture all form part of our ancestral story but how does technology help us to explore new ways of thinking and experimenting with who we are? Radical Ancestry is a programme of exhibitions, projects, residencies and events that brings together artists, activists, young people and local communities to change previous narratives and move towards a more inclusive understanding of what it means to belong.
Other projects within this programme focus on the passing down of stories and identities; the creation and sharing of knowledge; belonging and longing to belong; reclaiming space through song and music; what is lost, and what we are missing; revisiting or redesigning family culture or personal mythologies; and the ways in which we identify (and constantly recreate) ourselves in digital spaces.
Some of the artists we are developing new works with for this programme include: Larry Achiampong & David Blandy; Gloria Adereti (GLOR1A); Yarli Allison; Korakrit Arunanondchai; Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley; Kerolaina Linkevica; Tessa Norton; Larissa Sansour & Søren Lind; Ebun Sodipo; Hope Strickland; Lu Yang and Rae-Yen Song
HISTORY OF THE RESIDENCY
In 2019, supported by ArtFund, we invited curator Helen Starr into the organisation to open up our understanding of the possibilities of technology within an artistic context. Her unique style of encouraging diverse collaboration -across programmes, between people, and through ideas- fundamentally changed the way FACT’s programme was delivered in that year, and has had a lasting impact: in the way we work with one another, artists, audiences and our colleagues outside of the organisation. Our 2022 Curator in Residence will build on this legacy: creating connections between their approach, FACT’s audience and other potential audiences in the city.
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Over the last three years, FACT has extensively reviewed and transformed our policies and working practices in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion. We would want the appointed curator to share our commitment to this work, which we recognise is never complete. We welcome the opportunity to learn from, and exchange with, the experiences of the Curator in Residence, as we continue to develop new and better models of practice in the ways we work as a team and institution, with artists and audiences. Our ED&I Action Plan and Policy can be found on the FACT website.
If you have any further questions or require access support to submit your application, please don’t hesitate to contact us at residency@fact.co.uk or 0151 707 4444.
