Caroline Hancock is a French and English independent curator, writer, editor and translator based in Paris.
Having worked on major eclectic, non-hierarchical, cross-historical and multi-disciplinary exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery in the early 2000s, she continues to research Surrealism and its international connections, the potentials of archival materials and the dialogue between ancient, modern and contemporary work, invisibilities and peripheries outside the canon, the intricately complex personal nuances of each artist's practice, voice and contexts. Language, literature and translation are the tools of her practice.
Caroline Hancock has worked closely with artists such as Tacita Dean, William McKeown, Charlotte Moth, Otobong Nkanga, Zineb Sedira, Lynda Benglis, and Amina Menia. She is a member of the acquisitions committee at the FRAC Aquitaine in Bordeaux and of the editorial committee of AWARE (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions).
In 2008, she was awarded the Joanna Drew Travel Bursary to travel to Algeria which led to long-term research on art and culture in Africa and the Middle East. Curatorial trips have also taken her to Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Senegal, and in 2018 to China and Nigeria.
In Autumn 2018, she co-curated an exhibition at Power Station of Art in Shanghai. This was the first major survey of the broad-ranging practice of world-renowned dancer and choreographer Shen Wei who has lived in New York since 1995.
In Spring 2018, 'Measure The Valleys' invited Fayçal Baghriche, Mohssin Harraki, Euridice Kala, Lucie Laflorentie, Dana Whabira to a residency at the Maisons Daura, St Cirq Lapopie, in preparation for the Contemporary Art Parcours of the Lot Valley, Maison des arts Georges Pompidou, Cajarc / Maisons Daura (July-August 2018).
Caroline also curated the 'Carte blanche à Charlotte Moth', FRAC PACA, Marseille, Plateau Multimédia (May 2018) – this is the premise of a larger project developing for 2020/2021. They are collaborating on an exhibition responding to the collections at the Centro de Arte Dos de mayo in Móstoles/ Madrid (February to May 2019).
Invited by the Marseille expos network, she was guest curator of the Printemps de l’Art Contemporain (PAC) in May 2015. Adopting the picture postcard (a local invention in 1891) as an elastic common programming thread, Caroline worked with over 40 venues, herself curating or co-curating exhibitions at la compagnie, the FRAC, La Friche (with Sextant & + and astérides), the Galeries Lafayette, Palais Longchamp/ Musée des Beaux-Arts, whilst simultaneously planning then executing the 4 day launch weekend with urban walks, performances, concerts, bringing special attention to urban panoramas, heritage sites and public art, clichés, hotspots, and blind spots like the year-long artistic activities in the Quartiers Nord.
Between 2011 and 2013, as a member of the curatorial platform On The Roof with Elise Atangana and Yves Chatap, she co-curated projects with work by artists from Africa and the African diaspora in 'Synchronicity' in Paris and London, and 'Cyclicalities' in Dakar. In 2013, they co-organised Virginie Yassef's performance 'Investigations of a Dog' on LE SOCLE, Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Paris 19e, as well as the IKT Lab#3, 'African Art. What For?', with Chantal Pontbriand at the Gulbenkian Foundation, Paris.
In December 2018, the book Joanna Drew and the art of exhibitions (edited by Helen Luckett, published by Skira, 2018) will be launched at the Hayward Gallery in London. With support from The Elephant Trust, The Henry Moore Foundation, Fluxus Art Grant, the editorial committee composed of Dawn Ades, Andrew Dempsey, Roger Malbert and Alister Warman, the Drew family and private donors, this publication brings together multiple voices to pay tribute to a highly admired figure who worked at the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Hayward Gallery from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Caroline has recently written essays on the work of Julien Creuzet, Aurélien Froment, Amina Menia, Carlos Nogueira and Charlotte von Poehl (2016-2018). She writes regularly on modern and contemporary art for catalogues or the press (including artforum.com, Afterall, Art and Australia, Art Monthly Australia, Canvas, Contemporary &, the Jeu de Paume online magazine, Nafas Art Magazine, Photofile, Volume, 02).
In March 2016, she was one of the nominees for the AICA Prix de la critique d'art in Paris, she talked about the work of Dalila Mahdjoub at the connected Palais de Tokyo event. Since 1998, she has been an active translator (English to French and French to English), editor and copy-editor, specialised in the arts sector. From 2015 to 2017, she was copy-editor for the Research Section of L'Internationale Online, edited by Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez.
Forming this career were ten years of diverse experience in major institutions in Paris, London and Dublin. Starting in Paris at the Centre Pompidou (1998-1999) and MAMVP/ARC (1999-2000), she contributed to exhibitions and catalogues such as 'David Hockney', 'Le Fauvisme', 'Douglas Gordon', 'Voilà! Le Monde dans la Tête'. In London, she worked at Tate Modern (2000), aspreyjacques gallery (2001) and The Hayward (2002-2008) on exhibitions and catalogues such as ‘Saved!’, 'Jacques Henri Lartigue', 'An Aside. Selected by Tacita Dean' (touring to Camden Arts Centre, London; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea), 'Georges Bataille and the Magazine DOCUMENTS' with Dawn Ades, Simon Baker and Fiona Bradley, 'The Painting of Modern Life' with Ralph Rugoff (touring to Castello di Rivoli). At the Irish Museum of Modern Art/IMMA (2008-2009) in Dublin, she worked on exhibitions and catalogues such as 'William McKeown', 'Calder Jewellery', 'Elizabeth Peyton'. She curated a Lynda Benglis retrospective (touring to Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; IMMA, Dublin; Le Consortium, Dijon; RISD, Providence; New Museum, New York; MOCA, Los Angeles) and co-edited the accompanying Les Presses du Réel monograph.
Contact: carolinehancock8@gmail.com
Photo Credit: Charlotte Moth