About

Keith Whittle is a curator, writer, and visiting professor with over two decades of experience in contemporary art. His practice foregrounds transdisciplinary, intergenerational, and international collaboration—bringing together artists, critics, curators, historians, and communities through research-led, conceptually driven projects that connect historical and contemporary ideas and practices.

He began his career with group and solo exhibitions featuring Jo Spence and Rosy Martin—pivotal figures in British feminist art and photography from the late 1970s onward—alongside exhibitions exploring art, activism, and epidemiology during the global AIDS pandemic. During this period, he also presented a solo show of pioneering Nigerian-born photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode, whose work challenged Western perceptions of Africa and the African diaspora through radical examinations of identity, sexuality, race, and religion.

Whittle went on to tour seminal figures in experimental film, video, and performance, including Marina Abramović & Ulay, Vito Acconci, Bill Viola, and Gary Hill. This was followed by exhibitions featuring then-emerging Young British Artists such as Sam Taylor-Johnson, Georgina Starr, Douglas Gordon, and Jane and Louise Wilson, alongside American contemporaries Alex Bag and Vanessa Beecroft. He subsequently worked on new commissions and major national touring exhibitions of artists’ moving image, print, photography, and new media, including Abigail Lane, Michael Landy, Turner Prize winners Gillian Wearing, Mark Leckey, Elizabeth Price, and Laure Prouvost, as well as nominees Isaac Julien and Janice Kerbel, and Venice Biennale Golden Lion recipient Sonia Boyce. He has also curated displays of work by John Akomfrah and pioneering filmmaker, artist, writer, and activist Derek Jarman.

His more recent work has focused on East and Southeast Asian artists, practices, and heritages—developed through exhibitions, residencies, talks, and live programmes. Featured artists include Satoru Aoyama, Shigeo Anzai, Chim↑Pom, Fan Chon Hoo, Taro Izumi, Jia Aili, Mari Katayama, Meiro Koizumi, Kyunchome, Yuko Mohri, Aki Sasamoto, and Chikako Yamashiro. Alongside these projects, Whittle has served as a co-curator and programme director for international residencies and exhibitions, including large-scale presentations of contemporary art from China as part of CHINA Now and EAST.08, as well as artist exchanges and exhibitions delivered for the UK–Japan 2008 festival in partnership with the British Council China and British Council Japan. He later commissioned new work that brought together emerging and established practitioners, enabling ambitious, site-responsive projects across diverse cultural contexts and locations. These include new commissions by Sutapa Biswas and Adam Chodzko, Erika Tan and Mio Shirai; and site-specific projects by Adel Abdessemed, Michael Lin, Sarkis, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Jiang Zhi, and Sun Xun.

He has also led international academic collaborations and symposia at Central Saint Martins, resulting in initiatives such as the Global Art Joint Project, launched in 2015 by the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, in collaboration with leading global art institutions: École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris; Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London; and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has curated and spoken at events on Biennialisation, collective and participatory practices, and shifts in the art world under globalization, collaborating with leading artists, curators, and scholars such as Lewis Biggs, Adrian Favell, Leah Gordon, Yuko Hasegawa, Fram Kitagawa, Shubigi Rao, Mark Rappolt, Andrea Schlieker, Mizuki Takahashi, and Koki Tanaka.

His practice has shifted from extensive collaboration with artists to a research-led approach focused on a developing PhD in art history and writing. When collaborations with artists do occur, they are undertaken through his arts agency, Fountain, and arise solely in relation to this work.