Paul Vivian: Crouching Billionaire GhostSafety blanket, wood, metal, tape, cut paper, heigh apprximately 100cm, 2014.
Dr Sarah Chapman, Artist and Director of The Arts Institute
Working as an artist and curator, Sarah has an interest in cultural practice that crosses a range of disciplines including history, literature, music, film, contemporary art and the sciences. Recent curated projects include Dan and Lia Perjovschi: News After News/Knowledge Museum Kit and the internationally successful Moby-Dick Big Read.
Through The Arts Institute she has managed and supported a number of high profile festivals including the River Tamar Project and the Plymouth International Book Festival (now Plymouth Festival of Words). Her latest work combines photography, film and painting and explores waterways across the South West.
Dr Sarah Chapman
KARST Gallery
KARST Gallery

Carl Slater, Artist, and Founder and Director of KARST

Carl Slater is responsible for its curatorial programme and artistic direction. In his time at KARST he has supported numerous emerging artists and brought many high profile artists and projects to the city, facilitating Plymouth’s relationship to national and international networks. 

Whilst continually curating and producing collaborative projects, Carl is also a Plymouth-based artist whose practice engages with forms of collage, sculpture and video-based work. 

Recent projects including FAX, F*** Newton, Crowd.Control and Miss America’s Trip to Technoland.

Ben Borthwick, Artistic Director of Plymouth Arts Centre

Ben is a writer and curates Miartalks, a three-day programme of discussions at the Milan art fair. Previous roles include Director of the international art prize Artes Mundi and Assistant Curator at Tate Modern where he curated exhibitions by artists including Rodchenko & Popova, Bruce Nauman, Gilbert & George and Rosa Barba. He has been on many selection panels and juries, including the British School at Rome residency programme, Standpoint Futures, Oriel Davies Open, Wales in Venice and the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Ben Borthwick
Louise Coysh, 

Director, Arts
and Culture, University of Southampton

Louise Coysh, Director, Arts and Culture, University of Southampton

Louise promotes Southampton University’s world-class arts, including John Hansard Gallery, Turner Sims and Winchester School of Art, to the widest audience. This initiative also supports Southampton’s creative ecology, through the University’s research expertise.

Previous roles include Senior Curator, Art on the Underground; Project Curator, Serpentine Gallery, and Magazine Co-ordinator, a-n The Artists Information Company. She studied MA Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, London and BA Fine Art (Hons), Northumbria University, Newcastle.

Professor Chris Bennewith, Head of School for the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Plymouth

Prior to taking up his position at Plymouth, Chris spent eight years working in New Zealand at the College of Creative Arts, Massey University. 

Here he held a position as the Head of the Institute of Communication Design and was latterly employed as the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor - Enterprise.

Roland Levinsky Building
Plymouth Contemporary 2017
Judith Robinson, Arts and Cultural Development Manager for Plymouth City Council
Judith is a visual arts specialist with a broad knowledge of historic and contemporary art practice. In her present role, she leads on the strategic planning and development of Plymouth's ambition to grow its arts and cultural offer and to become a leading centre for the contemporary visual arts. A curator of art at the Usher Gallery, Lincoln, from 1980-2001, she has extensive experience of managing art collections and public programmes in the arts and museum sector.
The Arts Institute is now The Arts & Culture programme presented by The Bridge .