Claire Louise Staunton: New Music Plus
Commissioned by:
Longplayer Trust
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Claire Louise Staunton is a curator, arts producer and writer based in London since 2005. Her work treads the lines between artistic mediums, often working with sound in an art context and vice versa. Her most recent position was as an international curator-in-residence at the public museum, OCAT in Shenzhen, China where she presented a live improvised music programme in response to video works as well as a visual arts exhibition.
With the support of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, Claire Louise established the non-profit curatorial agency, Inheritance in 2007. Inheritance commissions contemporary artists and musicians to work in direct response to cultural heritage and archives, dealing with issues of historical materialism and temporality. Inheritance is also responsible for curating exhibitions and events programmes that play with our understanding of what comprises a cultural history of a geographical location and population. From 2010 Inheritance will be producing a major cross platform art project in south China, facilitating cultural exchanges between international artists and musicians in partnership with ArtHub Asia and Vision Forum.
Her previous experience was as a curator and co-programmer of the Late Nights at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. The Late Nights began as a risky programme crossing all genres from noise to folk and everything in between alongside temporary video, performance and installation works. Highlights of her tenure included a performance by Davey Graham, Kaliedescope with Damien Roach, Florence and the Machine and Bat for Lashes. Her time at Whitechapel cumlniated in the release of the compilation album, Nocturne featuring previous performers, Evan Parker, Alexander Tucker and Ruff Squad amongst others. Her independent programming and curating has involved working at Tate Modern, E:vent Gallery, Nog Gallery and projects in the public realm.
Claire Louise has an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths and is working towards her PHD. Her writing has appeared in a number of online publications including rhizome.org (USA) and print publications notably Art (BE) and Nowiswere (EU). She is the editor of two books, ‘Like Ships in the Night’ and ‘Time is Money, Efficiency is Life’. Claire Louise speaks regularly at UCL and a number of arts institutions internationally. She will be working with Longplayer as Associate Producer for Longplayer Live, a 1000 minute long performance that will take place at the Roundhouse on September 12, 2009.
“I am dedicated to bridging the gap between what is considered music and art by giving space and attention to both mediums equally. The New Music Plus… scheme will enable me to realise my ambitions through professional training, support and exchange dialogue between peers and institutions. I feel so fortunate to be part of such an incredible initiative.”