Independent curator
Stencil by GOIN as part of 'I'll Tell You Where You Can Stick Your Modern Art' - 2006
Steve Messam is an artist and curator based in the north of England. In 2002, he co-founded Fold – an artist-led organisation established to provide and promote access to contemporary art in the rural environment. He has overseen the daily management of the organisation and been the lead curator of its 4m-cube gallery in the remote market town of Kirkby Stephen, which has been host to work by over 200 artists from around the world. Exhibitions include ‘snowcase’, ‘Off the Wall’ ‘Paper Cut’ and the debut solo show for Barrie J Davies – ‘Barrie J Davies is an Artist’.
He has developed a particular interest in the cultural reference points inherent in the work of artists living in rural communities and exploiting the assets of landscape, agriculture and community for challenging the preconceptions of contemporary rural arts practice. He is also interested in space, the interaction of art and audience within those confines, the role of aesthetics and the physical experience.
He is co-founder of FRED – an annual art invasion in Cumbria and one of Europe’s largest annual festivals of site-specific work which since 2004 has laid the blueprint for contemporary arts provision in rural areas across the UK. He was recently senior producer for the sustainable tourism design camp, which aimed to demonstrate the role of contemporary art and design in sustainable solutions to tourism in the North East of England. He is currently working with other rural artists and curators building a rural artists network to promote critical dialogue around contemporary land art, Eco-art and rural issues and facilitate a greater understanding of contemporary rural art. In 2006, he was also a curatorial advisor for Open Frequency.