the minds behind maw
Who are the minds behind Middlesbrough Art Week? This year we welcomed Claire Feeley to our curatorial team, alongside Kyp Kyprianou, Pennelope Payne, Will Hughes and Artistic Director Liam Slevin.
Claire Feeley is a curator, writer and producer based in Scotland. She is most known for her unique approach in supporting artists to realise major artworks, ambitious either in scale, duration or through collaborative models of community co-commissioning.
Feeley’s recent curatorial projects include Rachel Maclean's Don't buy Mi, a touring public artwork that travels across highstreets in Scotland; Katie Paterson’s Future Library, a 100-year-long publishing project in Oslo; Michael’s Sailstorfer’s commission for the Folkestone Triennial, where the artist buried gold on an unmarked beach; and Theaster Gates’ Sanctum, which saw the people of Bristol sustain an unbroken performance for 552 hours.
She has held senior curatorial roles at Jupiter Artland, British Council, the Barbican, Serpentine Galleries, Situations as well as developing public art platforms in collaboration with national and international commissioning bodies. She co-founded Jupiter Rising festival in 2018 as a platform to support artists, musicians, thinkers and performers to reinvent the festival format. She is co-chair of g39, Wales’ longest running artist-led gallery and she is a strong advocate for the role of artistic thought in shaping civic space.
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In this statement Claire sums up the spirit of MAW
‘Middlesbrough Art Week shines in its commitment to bringing artistic ideas into dialogue with the fabric of the town and with how people come together to shape public space. Firmly artist-led and collaborative in spirit, it’s a festival that is both welcoming and inclusive. This year’s programme emphasises collective voice and agency. Alongside showcasing international artworks that connect with urgent themes relevant to people’s lived experiences, we are sowing the seeds for artistic projects that extend beyond the fixed duration of the festival, foregrounding the essential role of collaboration and artistic thought in shaping civic space’