Catsou Roberts is a curator from New York, based in London since 1998. She has previously lived and worked in France, Germany, Japan, and USA.
She is Director of Vital Arts, the charitably funded Creative Health organisation for Barts Health NHS Trust, which commissions site-specific work for five east London hospitals. Past projects include new work by Hurvin Anderson, Darren Almond, Tatty Devine, Roger Hiorns, Cornelia Parker, Amalia Pica, Lothar Götz, Julian Opie, Rana Begum, Richard Wentworth, Zarah Hussain, Cornelia Baltes, among dozens of others (www.vitalarts.org.uk).
For a sample of press see: feature in FX Magazine ; interviews in Studio International, A+C Enquiry Journal, CHWA ; articles on design in healthcare for Art Quarterly Tate, Etc Magazine ; conference convened for Tate, National Gallery Curatorial and Cultural Encounters ; and book chapter in Healing Art.
In 2015 she curated a festival of lens-based work in Lectoure, France entitled Le Point de fuite de l’Histoire (The Vanishing Point of History) with Larry Achiampong, David Blandy, Lina Selander, Matthew Buckingham, Melik Ohanian, Uriel Orlow, Eric Baudelaire, Mounir Fatmi and others. (catalogue available. PDF in https://www.linkedin.com/in/catsou-roberts-49723649/details/experience/ )
Previously, Roberts was Senior Curator at Arnolfini in Bristol where she curated monographic shows by Janice Kerbel (2000), Joachim Koester (2000), Liam Gillick (2000), Vito Acconci (2001), Michael Snow (2001), Victor Burgin (2002), and Jonathan Monk (2003), as well as several thematic shows, including Presentness is Grace: Experiencing the Suspended Moment; Duchamp’s Suitcase; Trouble Shooting; Vague but True. Before joining Arnolfini, Roberts curated free lance exhibitions in New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Toronto, and elsewhere which explored the moving image and issues of narrative, fiction and dramatisation. These include Perfect Speed (in 1994 with Douglas Gordon, Fiona Banner, Sam Taylor-Wood among others); Narrative Urge (in 1997 with Victor Burgin, Pierre Huyghe, Sarah Morris and others); Fiction + Interference: Assorted Confabulations.
She has published texts for Tate, etc, London; Phaidon Press, London; Whitney Museum, New York; Camera Austria, Graz; Art Press, Paris; Kanal Europe, Paris; Art Quarterly, London; Flash Art, Milan; Art in America, New York; New Art Examiner, Chicago; Galeries Magazine, Paris; East Village Review, New York; Siksi Magazine, Helsinki and many others. Roberts has served as a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths, Royal College of Art, QMUL, Birkbeck, University of Portsmouth, Slade School, Central Saint Martins, Royal Danish Academy, Konstfack, Stockholm Fine Art Academy Helsinki, Kunsthogskoken Bergen, Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, and IUAV di Venezia, among others.
Roberts has served in various advisory roles as panellist, judge, committee member, including for Maggie’s Centres; Building Better Healthcare; Wellcome Trust; Architectural Association; Tate Exchange; Culture Mile; William Morris Gallery; Outset; Clyde & Co; Contemporary Art Society; City of London / Public Realm.
She has given presentations about her work in Creative Health for the GLA, Tate, Venice Biennial of Architecture, European Medicines Agency, National Gallery, QMUL, Portsmouth University, London Art Fair, Zaragoza Conference on Arts and Health, Wolfson Institute, KØS Museum, Denmark, London Design Festival, Bambino Gesù Hospital, Rome, CABE, and many others.
SELECTED PUBLISHED WRITING:
Book / Catalogue Contributions (selected)
ROGER HIORNS: CLOCKS, Senses and Modern Health/care Environments, Wellcome Trust, University of Bristol, 2020
REHABILITATION, RESILIENCE AND THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF ART, Venice Architecture Biennial, Italian Pavilion, 2020
EXTENDING HORIZONS: ADVOCATING AMBITION IN ARTS AND HEALTH, Healing Art: How Art in Hospitals Promotes Healing, Robert-Bosch Hospital, Stuttgart, 2019
RAISING THE BAR: ADVOCATING NEW APPROACHES TO COMMISSIONING ART IN HEALTHCARE, KØS Museum of Public Art, Køge, Denmark, 2017
LE POINT DE FUITE DE L’HISTORIE, (THE VANISHING POINT OF HISTORY) Centre d’art et photographie de Lectoure, France, 2015
VERA LUTTER, JOACHIM KOESTER Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives on Photography, Phaidon, London, 2006
LONDON JULY 2005, This Storm is What We Call Progress, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2005
ANNA BARRIBALL, DAVID MUSGRAVE AND CATSOU ROBERTS IN CONVERSATION, Recognition, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2003
JONATHAN MONK, The Project Book Project, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2003
SOME INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION LEADING TO THE POSSIBLE LOCATION OF VICTOR BURGIN, Relocating: Victor Burgin, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2002
INTRODUCTION; A DIALOGUE BY BARRY SCHWABSKY AND CATSOU ROBERTS; STEPHEN HEPWORTH AND CATSOU ROBERTS, Shimmering Substance/View Finder, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2002
THE ABSOLUTE PRESENT OF THINGS, Presentness is Grace: Experiencing the Suspended Moment, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2002
AN INTERCONTINENTAL COLLAGE: CATSOU ROBERTS AND MICHEAL SNOW, Michael Snow: almost cover to cover, Arnolfini, Bristol and Black Dog Publishing, London, 2001
RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE: TO MAKE A SILK PURSE FROM A SOW’S EAR, The Silk Purse Procedure, Arnolfini, Bristol and Spike Island, Bristol, 2001
VITO ACCONCI, FOR STARTERS; TROUBLE SHOOTING, Vito Acconci/Acconci Studio PARA-CITIES: Models for Public Spaces and TROUBLE SHOOTING, 2001
INTRODUCING LIAM, Liam Gillick: renovation filter: recent past and near present, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2000; reprinted in Documents of Contemporary Art, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA and Whitechapel, London, 2007
MAKING OTHER ARRANGEMENTS, text on Emma Kay, Janice Kerbel and Juan Cruz for Other Arrangements, Duende, Rotterdam, 1999
BLUE HAZE: IMAGES FROM A RECENT DREAM, for monograph on Joachim Koester’s Day for Night, Christiania, 1996 project, published by Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen 1999; Reprinted in Cameria Austria, No. 66, 1999
UNWRAPPING, principal text for Wrapped, Vestsjaellands Kunstmuseum, Sorø, Denmark, 1998
SPATIAL DRIVE, Nothing but Space, DASA Museum, Dortmund, Germany, 1998
NARRATIVE, TIME AND SPACE: TWO OR THREE THINGS JOACHIM KOESTER KNOWS ABOUT, text on Joachim Koester for Cinéma Cinéma–Contemporary Art and the Cinematic Experience at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 1999; Original text in Siksi Magazine (XII No. 2), Helsinki, Summer, 1997; also reprinted by Galerie Mot & Van den Boogaard, Brussels, 1998
UGLY CASTINGS, text on Gaby Leidloff for Short Cuts: Links to the Body, DASA Museum, Dortmund, Germany (including Janine Antoni, Mona Hatoum, Zoe Leonard, Julia Scher) 1997
THE TURKISH BATH FILMS BY ROBERT C. MORGAN, Anthology Film Archives, NY, 1996
THE NARRATIVE URGE, Perfect Speed, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, 1995
THERE’S NO THERE, THERE, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1992
MUNTADAS, WORDS: The Press Conference Room, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1991; reprinted (in French) in exhibition catalogue, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Bourges, France, 1994; reprinted in exhibition catalogue, ArtSpace, New South Wales, Australia, 1993; reprinted (in German) in exhibition catalogue, Tiroler Landesmuseum, Ferdinandeum, 1993; reprinted (in Spanish) in exhibition catalogue, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago, 1992
ARTISTS’ PROFILES, Power: Its Myths and Mores in American Art, 1961-1991, Indiana University Press, Indiana, 1991
DARK AGES: NATURAL PHENOMENA AND THE POETICS OF SCIENCE, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1991
INTRODUCTION, (co-authored with Timothy Landers) The Desire of the Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1989
Newspaper/ Journal Contributions (selected)
ART QUARTERLY, London; TATE ETC, London; ART + CHRISTIANITY, London; ART PRESS MAGAZINE, Paris; SCENE, London; ART IN AMERICA MAGAZINE, New York; SIKSI MAGAZINE, Helsinki; GALERIES MAGAZINE, Paris; KANAL EUROPE, Paris; FLASH ART, Milan; NEW ART EXAMINER, Chicago; THE PHOENIX, Brooklyn; 108 EAST VILLAGE REVIEW, New York; THE GREENWICH TIMES, Greenwich, Connecticut
SELECTED CURATED EXHIBITIONS:
L’ÉTÉ PHOTOGRAPHIQUE, LE POINT DE FUITE DE L’HISTOIRE (THE VANISHING POINT OF HISTORY), exhibition of fifteen artists across five sites in historic town of Lectoure Venue: Centre d’art et photographie de Lectoure, Le Gers, France (booklet) 2015
VITAL ARTS GALLERY, series of small exhibitions including works by: Marsha Dunstan, Julian Burgin, Andrew Linden, Ruth Ewan, Gaia Persico, Edgar Hoefs Venue: Barts and Royal London Hospitals 2009 – 2015
THIS STORM IS WHAT WE CALL PROGRESS (co-curated with Martin Clark), group exhibition reflecting on war, modernity, history and ghosts, Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (book) 2005
RECOGNITION Part 1, two simultaneous monographic shows of Anna Barriball and David Musgrave; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (catalogue) 2003
NEITHER A BORROWER, NOR A LENDER BE, monographic exhibition of Jonathan Monk, including commissioned work and artist’s book publication; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol, (artist’s book) 2003
LISTEN TO BRITAIN: WORKS BY VICTOR BURGIN, monographic exhibition including commissioned work and book publication; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol; Travelled to Cornerhouse, Manchester, and (in part) to Norwich Art Gallery, Norwich (monographic book) 2002
VIEW FINDER (co-curated with Stephen Hepworth), group exhibition on the picturesque; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (catalogue) 2002
SHIMMERING SUBSTANCE (co-curated with Barry Schwabsky), group exhibition about paint and its materiality; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol; Travelled to Cornerhouse, Manchester (catalogue) 2002
PRESENTNESS IS GRACE: EXPERIENCING THE SUSPENDED MOMENT, group exhibition concerned with concepts and apprehensions about time; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol; Travelled to Spacex, Exeter (catalogue) 2001-2002
MICHAEL SNOW: ALMOST COVER TO COVER, First UK monographic exhibition on three sites, complemented by a film series, day-long conference, solo music performance and book publication with Black Dog; Venues: Arnolfini, Bristol, Science Museum, Bristol, Station, Bristol; Travelled to John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (monographic book) 2001
THE SILK PURSE PROCEDURE (co-curated with Claire Doherty), group exhibition explored the theme of physical, poetic and metaphorical transformation; Venues: Arnolfini, Bristol and Spike Island, Bristol (catalogue) 2001
TROUBLE SHOOTING, group exhibition concerned with uses of leisure and public space; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (catalogue) 2001
VITO ACCONCI: PARA-CITIES: MODELS FOR PUBLIC SPACES, Acconci’s first monographic exhibition in a British institution, complemented by a lecture and reading by Acconci; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (catalogue) 2001
LIAM GILLICK: RENOVATION FILTER: RECENT PAST AND NEAR FUTURE, Gillick’s first major UK exhibition; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (catalogue) 2000
DUCHAMP’S SUITCASE: PERSPECTIVES BY FIVE EUROPEAN CURATORS; exhibition of mini-exhibitions by five invited European curators, complemented by live concert soiree by Record Makers; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (unbound publication) 2000
MATTHEW BUCKINGHAM, first UK monographic screening, complemented by panel discussion with Buckingham and BBC filmmaker, Peter Symes; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol; 2000
JK//JK: JOACHIM KOESTER AND JANICE KERBEL, simultaneous monographic exhibitions by two artists who both challenge the distinction between documentation and dramatisation, first UK solo exhibitions for both artists; Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol (booklet) 2000
VAGUE BUT TRUE, Video programme exploring the boundary between fact and fiction using various forms of story telling; Venues: Arnolfini, Bristol; Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen; Real Art Ways, Limerick 2000
OTHER ARRANGEMENTS, Exhibition of site-specific works by Juan Cruz, Emma Kay and Janice Kerbel Venue: Duende Foundation, Rotterdam (catalogue) 2000
NARRATIVE URGE, Exhibition of time-based work which addresses spectatorship through implicating the viewer’s desire (urge) to construct narratives: Artists: Victor Burgin, Fiona Banner, Jacqueline Donachie, Pierre Huyghe, Joachim Koester, Sarah Morris, Rainer Oldendorf, Liisa Roberts and others; Venues: Uppsala Konstmuseum, Sweden; Lombard-Fried Fine Arts, New York 1997-2000
FICTION + INTERFERENCE: ASSORTED CONFABULATIONS, Film/video programme of emerging artists who challenge conventional models of fiction; Venue: Consonni Centre des Pratiques Artistiques Contemporaines, Bilbao, Spain and broadcast on Basque television 1997
PERFECT SPEED, Exhibition of time-based work by artists who manipulate existing narrative models: Artists: Fiona Banner, Jacqueline Donachie, Douglas Gordon, Graham Gussin, Stephanie Smith and Sam Taylor-Wood; Venues: MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Toronto (Guelph); Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa (catalogue) 1994-1996
POSTCARD PROJECT, Conceptual exhibition of works by former GDR artists represented through reproductions. Selected works were printed in the form of postcards and freely available to the public with the intention that the images would be circulated through the postal system in the West. Project was within the context of a multiple-site exhibition in (former East) Berlin entitled 37 Raüme, organised by Klaus Biesenbach; Venue: Kunst-Werke Berlin and surrounding Mitte area (catalogue) 1992
THERE’S NO THERE, THERE, Two-person exhibition about the anonymity of American highway culture and suburban development, with reflection on Gertrude Stein’s phrase, “when you get there, there isn’t any there, there”; Artists: Rita McBride and Todd Matus Venue: Indianapolis Museum of Art (catalogue) 1991-1992
WORDS: THE PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM, Site-specific installational work by [Antonio] Muntadas: Venue: Indianapolis Museum of Art (brochure) 1991
DARK AGES: NATURAL PHENOMENA AND THE POETICS OF SCIENCE, Exhibition with Indiana-based artists who explore various forms of knowledge including science, witchcraft, new technologies; Venue: Indianapolis Museum of Art (brochure) 1991
THE DESIRE OF THE MUSEUM, Co-curated exhibition which sought to posit museums as desiring subjects with hidden institutional agendas, including Richard Artschwager, Mark Dion, Marcel Duchamp, Guerrilla Girls, Hans Haacke, Joseph Kosuth, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Ad Reinhardt, Julia Scher and others; Venue: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (catalogue) 1989