RÍAN KEARNEY is a curator, writer and researcher based in the Midlands.


PROJECTS










WRITING




Queer Space Archive
Artlicks









PRODUCING
























Mark
I am a curator and researcher based in the Midlands. Working collaboratively across exhibitions and live programmes, I founded Queer Space Archive, an initiative that looks to document unrecorded LGBTQI+ space. 

Currently a PhD Candidate at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and supported by the Bartlett Promise Scholarship, I previously worked as Assistant Curator at Nottingham Contemporary, Co-Curator at Recent Activity, and have delivered projects at the 58th Venice Biennale; Birmingham Hippodrome; Block Universe; and Grand Union. My writing features in Frieze and this is tomorrow.

I studied at the University of the Arts London and the University of Birmingham, and was a member of Tate and Paul Mellon Centre’s Emerging Curator Group, 2020-21 and the School of Social Entrepreneurs’s Start-Up Programme, 2021-22.



Education
The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
PhD Architectural and Urban History and Theory
2021 - Present

University of Birmingham
MA Art History and Curating

University of the Arts London
BA (Hons) Photography

Experience
Post Graduate Teaching Assistant
The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Sep 2022 - Present

Doctoral Researcher
The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Sep 2021 - Present

Tutor
History of Art Department, UCL
Aug 2022 - Jan 2023 

Nottingham Contemporary
Assistant Curator
Sep 2019 - Sep 2021

The Contemporary Journal
Editorial Assistant
Sep 2019 - Sep 2021

Recent Activity
Co-curator
Apr 2017 - Oct 2019

Indre Serpytyte
Studio Assistant
Nov 2018 - Sep 2019

Parafin
Gallery Coordinator
Aug 2018 - Sep 2019

Argentea Gallery
Gallery Assistant
Dec 2017 - Aug 2018

Awards
UCL
Architecture Research Fund
2022

UCL
The Bartlett Promise Scholarship
2021

School of Social Entrepreneurs
Start Up Grant
2021

Tate & British Art Network
Emerging Curators Group Bursary
2020

a-n
a-n Mentoring Bursary
2019

New Art West Midlands
Engine Bursary
2018

Art Fund
Navigating the Art Market
2018
Talks
Research Conversations
The Bartlett School of Architecture
Nov 2022

AHRA Research Student Symposium
University of Westminster
Apr 2022

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Feb 2020

Barber Institute of Fine Art
Feb 2019

Camberwell College of Art
Jan 2018