Profile: Lewis Biggs
Challenging artists to create work for open spaces is a pleasure – but it can be tricky
Formerly the director of Tate Liverpool and then chief executive of the city’s biennial – for which, among other things, he brought Antony Gormley’s Another Place statues to Crosby Beach – Lewis Biggs is now the curator of the Folkestone Triennial. The event runs throughout the town until 2 November.
Do you prefer working in the great outdoors to traditional museum spaces?
I love museums and what they contain very deeply but commissioning contemporary art for them can be tricky.
Things have probably changed in the 15 years since I last worked in one but I remember Tate trustees refusing to commission because they needed to know what exactly they were going to acquire before it was even made.
I expect people are slightly more relaxed now but the matter does raise an issue about the authority of the museum. It used to be somewhere that reflected contemporary society but has it now become a patron, a Medici in its own right?
Working outdoors raises different arguments because every town is full of vested interests and some artists do not enjoy all that. As a museum curator, you have some control over your environment even though you often have to persuade your staff to go along with what you’re doing.
How do you decide who does what and where in the Folkestone Triennial?
I spent my first year of this project talking to local people and then I tried to develop those views into a structure whereby I could invite the artists that I knew enjoyed the challenges of working outside to do what they do best.
Could you give an example?
There’s a viaduct that runs through the centre of town across the harbour and everyone has views about what it should or should not be but no one’s allowed to go up there. Gabriel Lester, whose art is all about changing perspectives, has addressed that problem by erecting a viewing platform encased with Asian-style bamboo scaffolding.
The aesthetic suggests that looking to China would not be a bad strategy in terms of regenerating the town. Folkestone’s great era was when Edward VII came here every weekend with his mistress. They’re very keen on that fact at the Grand Hotel.
Are you still fulfilled working indoors?
There are few things more enjoyable than moving paintings around a room. In April, I had the time of my life hanging the John Moores exhibition at the Himalayas Museum in Shanghai. Indeed, one sadness about working outside is that it’s difficult to do anything with painters.
Lewis Biggs is the director of the Folkestone Triennial
Do you prefer working in the great outdoors to traditional museum spaces?
I love museums and what they contain very deeply but commissioning contemporary art for them can be tricky.
Things have probably changed in the 15 years since I last worked in one but I remember Tate trustees refusing to commission because they needed to know what exactly they were going to acquire before it was even made.
I expect people are slightly more relaxed now but the matter does raise an issue about the authority of the museum. It used to be somewhere that reflected contemporary society but has it now become a patron, a Medici in its own right?
Working outdoors raises different arguments because every town is full of vested interests and some artists do not enjoy all that. As a museum curator, you have some control over your environment even though you often have to persuade your staff to go along with what you’re doing.
How do you decide who does what and where in the Folkestone Triennial?
I spent my first year of this project talking to local people and then I tried to develop those views into a structure whereby I could invite the artists that I knew enjoyed the challenges of working outside to do what they do best.
Could you give an example?
There’s a viaduct that runs through the centre of town across the harbour and everyone has views about what it should or should not be but no one’s allowed to go up there. Gabriel Lester, whose art is all about changing perspectives, has addressed that problem by erecting a viewing platform encased with Asian-style bamboo scaffolding.
The aesthetic suggests that looking to China would not be a bad strategy in terms of regenerating the town. Folkestone’s great era was when Edward VII came here every weekend with his mistress. They’re very keen on that fact at the Grand Hotel.
Are you still fulfilled working indoors?
There are few things more enjoyable than moving paintings around a room. In April, I had the time of my life hanging the John Moores exhibition at the Himalayas Museum in Shanghai. Indeed, one sadness about working outside is that it’s difficult to do anything with painters.
Lewis Biggs is the director of the Folkestone Triennial