| Young Curators Project
In 2008, the Koestler Exhibition has for the first time been curated by offenders themselves. More specifically - to launch our partnership with Southbank Centre and to mark the 10th anniversary of the Government's Youth Justice Board - we chose offenders who are aged under 18 from the London Borough of Lambeth, where Southbank Centre is located.
In August 2008, a dozen young people were referred by Lambeth Youth Offending Service. Each of them was on a community sentence from court. They were brought together as a group to be trained by Eddie Otchere, a curator employed by Southbank Centre, and Kosher Osei-Yaw, a senior youth worker from Flipside, a charity that supports disadvantaged young people across Lambeth.
The young people undertook an intensive course in contemporary art and curating. They then spent several days at the Koestler Arts Centre, selecting the 123 exhibits from among the 5,131 Koestler Award entries. They based their selections around some themes of their own choosing:-
- Anger
- Family
- Heroes
- Humour
- Pattern
- Prison life
- Skill
- Toilets
The young people then helped shape the exhibition design at Southbank Centre. The exhibits are grouped broadly around the themes, and some of the young people's comments are shown alongside them (on black labels).
It was clear that project was a powerful experience for the participants. It also gives the exhibition a unique flavour.
One of the young curators commented:
"It was much harder than I thought it would be. I learnt you don't just look at art. You have to think what it's really about."
Tim Robertson, Koestler Trust chief executive, says:
"I'm impressed at how carefully the young people made the selections for the exhibition. They argued passionately for and against particular artworks. They definitely picked a great range of top quality work. But they also found things I hadn't noticed from the 5,000 pieces in our building, and they based many of their choices on what things mean personally to them. It makes for a fascinating show."
Click here for more about how the young people selected the exhibits.
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