A one-day symposium on inclusive curatorial practice, facilitation, and representation.
Thursday 26 March 2026
Town House / Kingston University London KT1 2EQ
Please book your ticket HERE
This event is free to attend but places are limited.
ActionSpace, Stanley Picker Gallery and Kingston School of Art PhD candidate, Lisa Slominski, present Curating and Coalition: Challenging and Expanding the Art World in the Wake of Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize Win, a one-day symposium critically exploring the potential of expanding roles and responsibilities of cultural intermediaries within contemporary art in the wake of Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize win.
Bringing together curators, researchers, supported-studio practitioners, and arts organisations, the symposium will cover agency, representation, facilitation, and coalition in relation to artists working from supported studio contexts.
It responds to the growing visibility of learning-disabled and neurodivergent artists, in particular those with complex needs and whose communication is considered non-normative, within the contemporary art world, and asks how this visibility can be accompanied by more equitable, accountable, and sustainable curatorial and institutional practices.
Panellists include Linsey Young – curator and ActionSpace Trustee, Jes Fernie – curator, writer and lecturer, Lou Mensah – Founder of Shade Media, Michael Richmond – curator at Yorkshire Contemporary, Rózsa Farkas – Founder and Director, Arcadia Missa Gallery, Tom di Maria – Director, Arts Access for All, and Charlotte Hollinshead – Head of Artist Development, ActionSpace.
Guest speakers are David Falkner – Director, Stanley Picker Gallery, Peter Heslip – Director of Visual Arts, Arts Council England, Sheryll Catto – CEO & Artistic Director of ActionSpace, with Lisa Slominski as Event Chair.
PROGRAMME
10:00–10:15 Welcome Guests
10:15–10:30 OPENING REMARKS
David Falkner, Director, Stanley Picker Gallery
Peter Heslip, Director of Visual Arts, Arts Council England
Panel #1: CURATORIAL METHODOLOGIES
Expanding Strategies and Representation, chaired by Lisa Slominski
10:30–11:45 INTRODUCTION & PRESENTATIONS
Linsey Young, Lou Mensah, Michael Richmond, Jes Fernie
11:45–12:00 Break
12:00–13:00 Discussion
13:00–13:45 Lunch
Panel #2: CULTURAL INTERMEDIARIES
Facilitation, Coalition, and Advocacy, chaired by Lisa Slominski
13:45–15:00 INTRODUCTION & PRESENTATIONS
Charlotte Hollinshead, Rózsa Farkas, Tom di Maria, Gabrielle Mordy
15:00–15:15 Break
15:15–16:15 Discussion
16:15–16:30 CLOSING REMARKS
Sheryll Catto, CEO & Artistic Director of ActionSpace, and Lisa Slominski
17:00–18:00 RECEPTION
Stanley Picker Gallery
Attack Decay Sustain Release: Experiments in Sound with Sophie Huckfield, Nnena Kalu & Rebecca Kressley, Abbas Zahedi & more
Book your ticket HERE
Curating and Coalition is supported by Arts Council England.
Image: Nnena Kalu, section of Drawing 74, 2024. Photo: Tom Carter. Courtesy of the Artist, ActionSpace, and Arcadia Missa, London.
