Spotlight with Julien Robson
Julien Robson, Director, Great Meadows Foundation & Director, The Mary and Al Shands Art Preserve, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Could you tell us a little more about your background and how you got into curating?
I trained as an artist at Bath Academy of Art, and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Subsequently I started to organize group exhibitions with colleagues. In the early 1980s I volunteered at the gallery at the University of Sussex and took a part time job at the South East Arts Association. In 1984 I began my curatorial career proper with a position at John Hansard Gallery at the University of Southampton. In late 1988 I moved to Vienna, Austria, where I worked in the private sector. In 2000 I moved to the USA as the first curator of contemporary art at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville. This was my first position looking after a collection. From 2008 through 2012, I worked as curator of contemporary art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum. Returning to Louisville, in 2012 I became the personal curator for art collector Alfred R Shands III, a position I held until his passing in 2021. Since 2016 I have been the founding director of Great Meadows Foundation, an organisation that supports artists in Kentucky, and since Al Shands passing I have been director of the Mary and Al Shands Art Preserve, a small sculpture park that is open to the public. Since 2012 I have also been working as an independent curator creating exhibitions for not-for-profit galleries and museums.
Who/what has influenced your curatorial practice?
While my background growing up gave me a love for music, art and literature, and my college education gave me a good grounding in art practice, art history, and critical thinking, I owe my curatorial education to a number of individuals. Firstly, Barry Barker, an important English curator and director of John Hansard Gallery, who introduced me to a broader art world and from whom I learned a great deal of my exhibition craft. IKT member Stephen Foster, who succeeded Barry Barker at the John Hansard Gallery, became a long term friend. Like Barry Barker and myself, Stephen was trained as an artist. Despite our divergent curatorial interests, we worked very collaboratively and learned a lot from each other. The late Birgit Juergenssen is an Austrian artist who opened the door for me to work in Vienna. It was an opportunity to see art and the art world from a very different social and cultural perspective and it broadened my outlook as well as honing an interest in the relationship between the local and the global. Another important figure for me is Peter Morrin, former director of the Speed Art Museum, who understood the vision I would bring to the Speed and who had the courage to appoint a curator from another continent whose qualifications and experience were outside the parameters that US museums would normally consider. Peter offered me a great deal of freedom in programming exhibitions and building the collection and introduced me to Al Shands, whose philanthropic legacy I now steward.
The role of the curator is continuously changing. Could you describe what it means to be a curator today?
I don't know if I could give a generalized answer about "what it means to be a curator today" as there are so many different ways that we work. My own practice is driven by my love of artists and what they do, my interest in bringing the art experience to public audiences, and the dialog and exchange that ensues from exhibitions.
Tell us about the latest exhibition or project that you curated.
The Shands Collection has been bequeathed in its entirety to museums in Kentucky, and I have recently curated the exhibition "Rounding the Circle: The Mary and Al Shands Collection" at the Speed Art Museum. It was Al's wish that the collection be seen together for one last time before being dispersed and used in other ways. It has been an interesting challenge, given that the collection grew organically in relation to the special architecture of Mary and Al's house. In the museum there is no natural light and the walls are flat and orthogonal. Rather than trying to capture something of the house, my solution has been to think around the way Al spoke of being a collector, talking about this as a big dinner party with diverse conversations between works. It is quiet and contemplative, with wall texts that are drawn from published interviews with Al, where he talks about collecting and his relationship to artists. It is very much an exhibition for our community, celebrating this transformational gift from two of Kentucky's great art philanthropists.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to now, that is helping you to stay relaxed and positive?
I have been reading a lot of Marc Morris's histories of Medieval Britain and listening to a lot of recordings by Vikingur Olafsson.
How long have you been part of IKT and how do you feel that it has benefited your curatorial practice?
I've been a member since 2001, when the Congress was held in Sienna. Each congress has been a great opportunity to (internationally) learn about local and regional art communities, and their particular concerns, as well as an opportunity to reconnect and build new friendships with a diverse range of curators. The symposium has always been a stimulating platform, especially when it addresses ideas from the perspective of the hosting community.
Thank you Julien!
Spotlight
Spotlight is a new series of short interviews, aiming to provide insights about IKT members, their curatorial practice and projects in which they are involved. The series is intended to boost members' engagement with the network and help them find new opportunities for collaboration.
Want to participate?
Send us a request to ikt.curatorial@gmail.com and we will send you interview questions.