Nigel Prince, currently Executive Director at Contemporary Art Gallery (CAG), Vancouver, has been appointed Director of Artes Mundi International Visual Arts Exhibition and Prize. Prince, who has been working as an international curator for over twenty-five years and has been Executive Director at CAG since 2011, will take up the position in September as Artes Mundi enters its ninth cycle.
At CAG he has been responsible for a period of unprecedented growth and strategic development resulting in a complete reinvigoration of the institution including an expansion of its exhibition programme; management of its collection; the founding of a comprehensive series of education work through outreach projects, public programmes and learning opportunities; extensions to the facility, and attracting a significant and diverse range of new funders and audiences.
He said of his new appointment: "I am delighted to be joining the team at Artes Mundi. I look forward to developing both locally connected and globally relevant projects in Cardiff and beyond.
"As an organisation which combines a major UK biennial exhibition and art prize with a year-round program of public and community outreach, commissions and partnership exhibitions, the importance of its role in creating space for people to engage with the vital issues of our time is necessary now more than ever."
Previously he was Curator at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2004-2010), and worked on founding International Project Space (IPS) also in Birmingham. Prince began his career at Tate Liverpool and alongside curatorial work has held several academic and research posts including Course Director at Birmingham City University (1997 – 2002). His work with contemporary artists is extensive including Ryan Gander, Andrea Zittel, Donald Judd, Olafur Eliasson, Shahzia Sikander, Liz Magor, Steven Shearer and Ayşe Erkmen amongst many others, and includes a vital range of partnerships with institutions including Ballet BC, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and museums and galleries world-wide. His exhibition with Cuban artist Carmen Herrera in 2009 was critically heralded as the “discovery of the decade” by The Guardian/ Observer and The New York Times. Prince has written about contemporary art for a wide range of publications and journals, most recently contributing essays to monographs on Lucy and Jorge Orta and Julia Dault.
Mathew Prichard CBE, Chairman of Artes Mundi said:
We are thrilled to welcome Nigel as Director & Curator at Artes Mundi. Nigel brings a wealth of experience across a highly distinguished international career and we are very much looking forward to Nigel leading us into Artes Mundi 9 and beyond
Since being in Canada, Prince has served as a jury member on a number of awards including the Sobey Art Award (2019); the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Emerging Curator and Emerging Artist (2019); the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Awards (2013); RBC Canadian Painting Award (2012); plus consultancy and advocacy roles including as a founding member of the City of Vancouver Arts and Culture Policy Council. In the UK he was arts advisor to Arts Council England (1993-98) and was Chair for the conference: New Thinking in Public Art: Habitat, Community, Environment, Tate Britain (2004).
Nominations are now open for #ArtesMundi9. Anybody can nominate an artist and there's no limit to how many nominations you make - more information and criteria here.
