Critic and broadcaster moves from White Cube gallery to take on newly expanded role at London gallery
The critic and broadcaster Tim Marlow is to be in charge of exhibitions at the Royal Academy as its first director of artistic programmes, it has been announced.
Marlow, best known as the presenter of numerous TV and radio arts documentaries over the past 20 years, will replace Kathleen Soriano in a newly beefed-up role at the Academy.
Marlow has been in charge of exhibitions at the contemporary art gallery White Cube since 2003 and was approached by the Royal Academy for the role, one of the most coveted visual arts jobs in the UK.
He called the job "a brilliant challenge". It's "expansive, demanding, challenging … and on another level you think 'blimey'".
The appointment comes at a critical time for the RA. Construction is due to begin next year on a project that will link its historic home on Piccadilly with the building it acquired in 2001, 6 Burlington Gardens. The £36m redevelopment – due to be completed in time for its 250th anniversary in 2018 – will allow contemporary art shows, a debating chamber and space to show works from the RA collections itself.
Marlow's brief is to look after exhibitions, learning, public talks, the collection and the architecture programme.
He said there was nothing like the RA – which is run by its artist and architect academicians – anywhere else. "I love the Academy because it has almost been like a pillar of the establishment for centuries but it's kind of slightly misunderstood, slightly underrated and slightly anti-establishment.
"There is no other institution like it in Britain or the world. At other museums you deal with your curators, your audience, your trustees. At the Academy you're dealing with artists, living and dead, all of the time."
The academicians will not be shy of giving their opinions. "Ask me in five years' time, I may have changed my opinion, but I think artists' opinions are consistently more interesting to me than bankers' opinions and commentators' opinions. I don't always agree with artists' opinions but they are rarely if ever boring."
Marlow said he hoped to attract new audiences to the RA but the age range of people who went there was already pretty wide. "You've got to keep looking for new audiences but I can tell you this from the beginning: there will be no baby and bathwater nonsense. I'm not going to chase youth at the expense of engaged audiences. There are ways of building different types of audiences."
Much of the RA's exhibitions programme in the next few years is already in place including a major retrospective for Anselm Kiefer in September that Soriano will continue to curate.
Marlow began his broadcasting career as a presenter of Kaleidoscope on Radio 4 between 1991 and 1998. In 1997 he was the man chairing the live Turner prize debate on Channel 4 that featured a worse-for-wear Tracey Emin (now the RA's professor of drawing), declaring: "I want to be with my friends. I'm drunk. I want to phone my mum." Since then he has presented numerous TV documentaries for channels including Channel 5 and Sky Arts and while he will not be giving up broadcasting he said he would have "to be more selective".
The RA's president, Christopher Le Brun, said: "In his career to date, Tim Marlow has proved himself to have the boldness and visionary instincts that the modern RA requires. He is an energetic and popular figure, highly respected in the art world and his experience of working collaboratively with many of the world's great artists, collectors and academics underlines his suitability for this high-profile role in an artist-led organisation."
Charles Saumarez Smith, the RA's secretary and chief executive, said: "I am very much looking forward to working with Tim as he develops an artistic programme for the RA that builds on an exceptional trajectory, and looks to maximise the contribution of our world-class exhibitions, our collection, and our tradition of learning and debate. His success at White Cube, coupled with his knowledge of art history and experience in arts broadcasting will be of great value as we continue the renewal of the Royal Academy in the lead-up to our 250th anniversary in 2018."
Soriano was appointed director of exhibitions five years ago, taking over from Norman Rosenthal, who had been 30 years in the job. The RA said Soriano "feels it is time for a change and to take on new projects". Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago.
The critic and broadcaster Tim Marlow is to be in charge of exhibitions at the Royal Academy as its first director of artistic programmes, it has been announced.
Marlow, best known as the presenter of numerous TV and radio arts documentaries over the past 20 years, will replace Kathleen Soriano in a newly beefed-up role at the Academy.
Marlow has been in charge of exhibitions at the contemporary art gallery White Cube since 2003 and was approached by the Royal Academy for the role, one of the most coveted visual arts jobs in the UK.
He called the job "a brilliant challenge". It's "expansive, demanding, challenging … and on another level you think 'blimey'".
The appointment comes at a critical time for the RA. Construction is due to begin next year on a project that will link its historic home on Piccadilly with the building it acquired in 2001, 6 Burlington Gardens. The £36m redevelopment – due to be completed in time for its 250th anniversary in 2018 – will allow contemporary art shows, a debating chamber and space to show works from the RA collections itself.
Marlow's brief is to look after exhibitions, learning, public talks, the collection and the architecture programme.
He said there was nothing like the RA – which is run by its artist and architect academicians – anywhere else. "I love the Academy because it has almost been like a pillar of the establishment for centuries but it's kind of slightly misunderstood, slightly underrated and slightly anti-establishment.
"There is no other institution like it in Britain or the world. At other museums you deal with your curators, your audience, your trustees. At the Academy you're dealing with artists, living and dead, all of the time."
The academicians will not be shy of giving their opinions. "Ask me in five years' time, I may have changed my opinion, but I think artists' opinions are consistently more interesting to me than bankers' opinions and commentators' opinions. I don't always agree with artists' opinions but they are rarely if ever boring."
Marlow said he hoped to attract new audiences to the RA but the age range of people who went there was already pretty wide. "You've got to keep looking for new audiences but I can tell you this from the beginning: there will be no baby and bathwater nonsense. I'm not going to chase youth at the expense of engaged audiences. There are ways of building different types of audiences."
Much of the RA's exhibitions programme in the next few years is already in place including a major retrospective for Anselm Kiefer in September that Soriano will continue to curate.
Marlow began his broadcasting career as a presenter of Kaleidoscope on Radio 4 between 1991 and 1998. In 1997 he was the man chairing the live Turner prize debate on Channel 4 that featured a worse-for-wear Tracey Emin (now the RA's professor of drawing), declaring: "I want to be with my friends. I'm drunk. I want to phone my mum." Since then he has presented numerous TV documentaries for channels including Channel 5 and Sky Arts and while he will not be giving up broadcasting he said he would have "to be more selective".
The RA's president, Christopher Le Brun, said: "In his career to date, Tim Marlow has proved himself to have the boldness and visionary instincts that the modern RA requires. He is an energetic and popular figure, highly respected in the art world and his experience of working collaboratively with many of the world's great artists, collectors and academics underlines his suitability for this high-profile role in an artist-led organisation."
Charles Saumarez Smith, the RA's secretary and chief executive, said: "I am very much looking forward to working with Tim as he develops an artistic programme for the RA that builds on an exceptional trajectory, and looks to maximise the contribution of our world-class exhibitions, our collection, and our tradition of learning and debate. His success at White Cube, coupled with his knowledge of art history and experience in arts broadcasting will be of great value as we continue the renewal of the Royal Academy in the lead-up to our 250th anniversary in 2018."
Soriano was appointed director of exhibitions five years ago, taking over from Norman Rosenthal, who had been 30 years in the job. The RA said Soriano "feels it is time for a change and to take on new projects". Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago.