Lucy Steeds
Editor, Exhibition Histories, Afterall
Pathway Leader, MRes Art: Exhibition Studies
As the Editor for Afterall's Exhibition Histories book series, Lucy Steeds works with a research and publishing team on the history of exhibitions of contemporary art from the last fifty years. Together with Pablo Lafuente, she is also Pathway Leader for MRes Art: Exhibition Studies at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. This two-year postgraduate research course takes as its starting point the work underpinning the Exhibition Histories book series and, through this, supports students as they pursue their particular areas of interest.
Lucy Steeds has a background in exhibition making in the field of contemporary art from six years at Arnolfini in Bristol. Her previous teaching experience includes lecturing in art history and theory at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford. She originally studied Experimental Psychology (Balliol College, Oxford University), then Art History (Courtauld Institute, London) and Visual Cultures (Goldsmiths College, London).
Research Interests
Contemporary art and the history of exhibitions of contemporary art. Recent curatorial issues, theory and practice. Also theories of prehistoric art and of consciousness, where they intersect with contemporary art.
In recent work, Lucy Steeds has focused on the following exhibitions: ‘Op Losse Schroeven’ (1969), ‘When Attitudes Become Form’ (1969) and Lucy Lippard’s ‘numbers shows’ (1969–74); the first three editions of the Havana Biennial (1984–89) and ‘Magiciens de la Terre' (1989). Her research is currently focused on the latter exhibition.
She has recently submitted a doctoral thesis in limit experience and its approximation in contemporary art, prehistoric art, psychiatry and neuroscience (Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, London).
Selected Publications, Conferences and Events
- 2012: conference paper on ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ (1989), Association of Art Historians, session in Sculpture and its Exhibition Histories
- 2011: interview with artist José Bedia, Making Art Global (part 1): The Third Havana Biennial 1989, Afterall Books
- 2010: interviews with artists Richard Serra and Jan Dibbets, Exhibiting the New Art: ‘Op Losse Schroeven’ and ‘When Attitudes Become Form’ 1969, Afterall Books, London
- 2009–10: essay on the work of John Wood and Paul Harrison, ‘in eternal circumstances in the depth of a shipwreck’, in A123456, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham/ Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart/ Kunstmuseum Thun
- 2009: text on the work of Hilary Lloyd to accompany her solo exhibition at Tramway, Glasgow
- 2007: interview with Liam Gillick (and Catsou Roberts), Design and Art, Whitechapel Documents of Contemporary Art, London
- 2005: conference paper, ‘André Leroi-Gourhan: Neuroaesthetics?’, Neuroaesthetics, Goldsmiths College, London
- 2004: conference paper, ‘Experiments in Creative Law-Emergence: Bruce Nauman’s Self-Portrait as a Fountain and Palaeolithic hand stencils’, Third Space Seminar, Lund and Malmö Universities
- 2002: catalogue essay on Jasper Johns’s Study for Skin, ‘Deep Play’, Apparition: the Action of Appearing (exh. cat.), Arnolfini, Bristol
- 2002: film programme for Picture This at Arnolfini, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, with discussion event involving Mark Leckey and Stephen Sutcliffe
- 2001: ‘Time's Printless Torrent, on La Pluie (Projet pour un texte) 1969 by Marcel Broodthaers’, Presentness is Grace (exh. cat.), Arnolfini, Bristol
- 2001: editor (with Catsou Roberts) and author, ‘Snow in England', Michael Snow, almost Cover to Cover, Arnolfini, Bristol, and Black Dog Publishing, London
In addition, Lucy Steeds has written for periodicals including Art Monthly, Art Press and Art Review.
