On Collections: Laura Smith

May 2020

Laura Smith, Curator at Whitechapel Gallery talks to Curator at the Roberts Institute of Art Ned McConnell about her work with audiences both in and outside of London, curatorial approaches to collections and the role of the curator in building trust.

As Smith states, 'If we can care for each other, it makes the making of that exhibition a positive experience for everybody with vital and beneficial conversations, rather than a stressful encounter.' (28:32)

Laura Smith

Laura Smith was appointed Curator of Whitechapel Gallery in February 2018, where amongst several projects she worked on the first UK survey show for Elmgreen & Dragset and the exhibition on Helen Cammock who won the 2017-19 Max Mara Art Prize for Women and was a co-winner of the 2019 Turner Prize. Prior to the Whitechapel Gallery, Laura was Curator at Tate St Ives, where she was responsible for a series of international historic and contemporary projects by artists including Rebecca Warren, Jessica Warboys, Linder, Marlow Moss, R.H. Quaytman, Bridget Riley, Lucy Stein, Nashashibi/Skaer, as well as group exhibitions such as Virginia Woolf: An Exhibition Inspired by Her Writings (2018), Turner Prize 2016 (2016) and Images Moving Out onto Space (2015).

Laura writes extensively on modern and contemporary art. Most recently she has contributed a chapter to Oxford University Press' Virginia Woolf Reader on Woolf's influence on the visual arts, an essay on Lisa Brice to accompany her solo exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery, and a forthcoming monograph on Eileen Agar — soon to be published by Eiderdown Books.


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