2020 - 2022 - The Show Windows, Coventry, Mumbai & beyond
For Coventry City of Culture I have led the development, curation and management of The Show Windows which had four key components:
- The Show Windows which consisted of my centrally curated programme, Spotlights on ten local artists, a series of windows by RIBA West Midlands and a Curatorial Network realised in partnership with Coventry University;
- The Show Windows: Reflections a programme co-produced with Historic England with engagement by Quiet Down There who worked with Government Art Collection, British Museum, Crafts Council. We also employed two Assistant Curators as part of this programme and commissioned six local artists to either respond to a collection or alternatively archive the Reflections programme location, City Arcade, Coventry;
- The Show Windows: Mumbai realised in partnership with SqW:lab and Tarq in windows in Colaba, Mumbai
- The Show Windows: Digital was a programme of digital tours, artwork hosting and five new VR artworks in partnership with Smartify.
The Show Windows theme:
Once upon a window…As part of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, artists, designers, architects and makers are transforming Coventry city centre, turning shop windows into portals to fantasy worlds and mindscapes. These site-specific artworks, framed behind the window glazing, by local and international artists will act as picture book pages and mirrors in which to see new narratives and reflections of ourselves and the city. The Show Windows aims to inspire hope, adventure and imagination, inviting us to rediscover multi-faceted Coventry, ever-evolving and home to diverse and creative communities and businesses, and its people.
The Show Windows is inspired by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum’s book about shop window design. I selected Baum’s term, ’show windows’ as the inspiration behind the project and included it as a main point of reference in the brief to architects and artists. Specifically asking them to create immersive pieces that invite audiences to journey to other places, and to celebrate the locations and people that will help us display the artworks.
The identity For The Show Windows was developed with Curious Ways with the font also being inspired by the L Frank Baum book. Each window got its own assets that revealed the windows / artworks in line with the reveal felt by those passing by the windows and moving around the city.
- The Show Windows which consisted of my centrally curated programme, Spotlights on ten local artists, a series of windows by RIBA West Midlands and a Curatorial Network realised in partnership with Coventry University;
- The Show Windows: Reflections a programme co-produced with Historic England with engagement by Quiet Down There who worked with Government Art Collection, British Museum, Crafts Council. We also employed two Assistant Curators as part of this programme and commissioned six local artists to either respond to a collection or alternatively archive the Reflections programme location, City Arcade, Coventry;
- The Show Windows: Mumbai realised in partnership with SqW:lab and Tarq in windows in Colaba, Mumbai
- The Show Windows: Digital was a programme of digital tours, artwork hosting and five new VR artworks in partnership with Smartify.
The Show Windows theme:
Once upon a window…As part of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, artists, designers, architects and makers are transforming Coventry city centre, turning shop windows into portals to fantasy worlds and mindscapes. These site-specific artworks, framed behind the window glazing, by local and international artists will act as picture book pages and mirrors in which to see new narratives and reflections of ourselves and the city. The Show Windows aims to inspire hope, adventure and imagination, inviting us to rediscover multi-faceted Coventry, ever-evolving and home to diverse and creative communities and businesses, and its people.
The Show Windows is inspired by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum’s book about shop window design. I selected Baum’s term, ’show windows’ as the inspiration behind the project and included it as a main point of reference in the brief to architects and artists. Specifically asking them to create immersive pieces that invite audiences to journey to other places, and to celebrate the locations and people that will help us display the artworks.
The identity For The Show Windows was developed with Curious Ways with the font also being inspired by the L Frank Baum book. Each window got its own assets that revealed the windows / artworks in line with the reveal felt by those passing by the windows and moving around the city.
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Artists I invited to create bespoke windows included (in order of appearance): Ben Javens, MAMIMU (June Smithson-Mineyama), Adam Nathaniel Furman, Sharon Walters, Jack Foulks, Sameer Kulavoor, Vishwa Shroff, Evans Mbugua, Yermine Richardson, Hyunjeong Lim, NEON, Liz West, Erin Aniker, Ashton Attzs, Katrina Adams, Kemi Onabule and Karen McLean.
Spotlight on local artists, selected via an open call, included (in order of appearance): Sadie Aspinall, Matt Chinn, Gary Eite, Michala Gyventai, Tammy Woodrow, Tom Godwin, Indira Lakshmi, Polly Merredew, Tarla Patel, Theo Wright.
Poet and Sound artists commissioned via an open call included: Sujatha Menon, Lib Oration featuring Jenny Egerton, Emilie Lauren Jones, Chris Fernandez, Theo Ioannou, Alison Manning, Nick Knibb aka The Archbishop, Indira Lakshmi (Lucifer Sky), Alexandra Johnson, and Steve Jones (Stylusboy).
RIBA West Midlands commissioned architects: Gensler, One Creative Environments, Intervention Architecture and Ella and Abby Clarke.
RIBA Schools windows by: Mili Karia, age 6, Earlsdon Primary School, Stella Whelan, age 13, Coundon Court, and Franco Poretta, age 9 from Holy Family School.
RIBA and Birmingham Architects Association windows by: Priya Addanki, Ola Adeyemi and Jake Obichere, and Year 13 Graphics Group, Blue Coat School, Coventry.
Historic England commissioned artists: Edie Jo Murray, Lorsen Camps, Jo Gane, Francesca Robson, Martin Green and Tom Edwards.
Historic England partnership with: Government Art Collection curated by Carriers of Hope, British Museum curated by Positive Choices, and Crafts Council curated by Coffee Tots.
The Show Windows: Mumbai with Tarq Gallery and SqW:Lab, featuring artists: Avantika Bawa, Emma Critchley, Mario d’Souza, Ranjit Kandalgaonkar, Samanta Batra Mehta, and Tarla Patel
Spotlight on local artists, selected via an open call, included (in order of appearance): Sadie Aspinall, Matt Chinn, Gary Eite, Michala Gyventai, Tammy Woodrow, Tom Godwin, Indira Lakshmi, Polly Merredew, Tarla Patel, Theo Wright.
Poet and Sound artists commissioned via an open call included: Sujatha Menon, Lib Oration featuring Jenny Egerton, Emilie Lauren Jones, Chris Fernandez, Theo Ioannou, Alison Manning, Nick Knibb aka The Archbishop, Indira Lakshmi (Lucifer Sky), Alexandra Johnson, and Steve Jones (Stylusboy).
RIBA West Midlands commissioned architects: Gensler, One Creative Environments, Intervention Architecture and Ella and Abby Clarke.
RIBA Schools windows by: Mili Karia, age 6, Earlsdon Primary School, Stella Whelan, age 13, Coundon Court, and Franco Poretta, age 9 from Holy Family School.
RIBA and Birmingham Architects Association windows by: Priya Addanki, Ola Adeyemi and Jake Obichere, and Year 13 Graphics Group, Blue Coat School, Coventry.
Historic England commissioned artists: Edie Jo Murray, Lorsen Camps, Jo Gane, Francesca Robson, Martin Green and Tom Edwards.
Historic England partnership with: Government Art Collection curated by Carriers of Hope, British Museum curated by Positive Choices, and Crafts Council curated by Coffee Tots.
The Show Windows: Mumbai with Tarq Gallery and SqW:Lab, featuring artists: Avantika Bawa, Emma Critchley, Mario d’Souza, Ranjit Kandalgaonkar, Samanta Batra Mehta, and Tarla Patel
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Find out more about a series of window installations I curated in Coventry for December 2020 with commissioned artwork by Ana Jaks here >>
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