to make meaningful work and in this quest they want to show us the power structures of art and civic life within which we operate, to think about what is tacit and covert, to illustrate the physicality of existence as a site for the imagined and to demonstrate that artists still have much to say.
" The reason I keep coming back to art is that it does feel like a place where a central focus is to look at ourselves in our environments and offer different narratives which will give different perspectives on what could be, as well as what is." 2
Kate Brindley has been Director of mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) since July 2009. She has 20 years experience in the visual arts and museums sector with particular experience in working with 20th century art collections and capital developments. Previous roles include: Head of Arts and Museums for Wolverhampton; and Director of Museums, Galleries and Archives for Bristol City Council. She is one of only four national advisors for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Arts Funding Programme and chairs their new museums and galleries initiative, “Our Museums”. Kate is Vice Chair of the AV Festival North East and an Associate of the Museums Association. www.visitmima.com
2
Kate Gray, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh. ‘Gallery as Community: Art, Education, Politics’ Editor Marijke Steedman