Biography
Keith Whittle is a British, London-based curator, programme director, producer, art advisor, and Fellow at Central Saint Martin’s, University of the Arts London.
With two decades of experience encompassing research, commissioning and exhibition of contemporary art. He has realised projects working with emerging and established names that span the mediums of video installation, experimental film, photographic and object-based installation, new media and performance. Projects include monographic, thematic and inter-institutional national and international shows. With a recent focus on solo shows championing the work of emerging and mid-career East and Southeast Asian artists working in a range of media including Satoru Aoyama, Bontarō Dokuyama, Meiro Koizumi, Chim↑Pom, Chikako Yamashiro, Fan Chon Hoo, Jiang Zhi and Sun Xun.
Through commissions, Whittle has also been fortunate to work on projects with Turner Prize winner Mark Leckey, nominees Issac Julian and Janice Kerbel, Venice Golden Lion winner Sonia Boyce, and international group and solo shows of work by Adel Abdessemed, John Akomfrah, Sutapa Biswas, Adam Chodzko, Abigail Lane, Laure Prouvost, and Jane and Louise Wilson.
He is also a Visiting Professor and lectures at academic institutions in Tokyo and London.
Selected Experience
Recipient of a Cultural Leadership Programme Award, a UK government-funded award for excellence in leadership given to emerging and established world-class, dynamic, and diverse leaders for the 21st Century.
Associate Curator and Advisor at White Rainbow Gallery, presenting the work of international artists focusing on contemporary art from Japan.
Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Lecturer in Fine Art at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Japan Foundation Fellow as part of a program that supports outstanding scholars, researchers, and professionals by offering the opportunity to conduct research in Japan, and Fellow at Central Saint Martin’s, University of the Arts London.
Advisor and art consultant for galleries, academic institutions, and cultural organizations including Arts Council England and The British Council. Speaker at cultural institutions such as The Japan Foundation.
Responsible for artists’ moving image projects at Film and Video Umbrella, the leading UK agency in commissioning and producing moving-image works, presented in collaboration with galleries and other cultural partners across the UK.
Similarly, the New Media Department and Digital Media Art Festival at The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) explore the possibilities of digital media and moving image, working with international artists and digital media specialists.
Director of Time-Based Media at the University of Sunderland, responsible for researching and curating new media and moving image projects in collaboration with national and international partners.
Researcher at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, exploring institutional archives, categorisation systems, and archival strategies with a focus on time-based media such as video, film, slide, audio, and computer technologies, both physical and digital.