Walking & Talking with Anne Barlow
Bige Örer, Anne Barlow • 8/1/25
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Walking & Talking, hosted by Istanbul- and London-based curator and organizer Bige Örer, is a series of video-recorded conversational experiences based on walking with each guest curator in the same location or in two different places in the world. Some of these conversations address broad societal, cultural, or philosophical questions, while others may unfold more intimate concerns and flow with inner journeys. The walks are imagined as poems shared between the participants on their shared paths.
In this episode, recorded on October 19, 2024, Örer speaks with curator Anne Barlow. In this thoughtful interview, Barlow, Director of Tate St Ives, reflects on her curatorial journey from Glasgow to New York and now to rural Cornwall, highlighting her long-standing commitment to artist-centered, internationally attuned, and socially responsive curating. She contrasts the demands of working in major urban institutions with the deeply local and community-focused context of St Ives, where global issues like ecology, extraction, and identity intersect with local concerns.
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Anne Barlow is Director of Tate St Ives, Art Fund Museum of the Year 2018. Previously, she was Artistic Director at Tate St Ives (2017–2018), Director of Art in General, New York (2007–2016), Curator of Education and Media Programs at the New Museum, New York (1999–2006), and Curator of Contemporary Art and Design at Glasgow Museums, Scotland (1994–1999). Across these roles, she has been instrumental for programmatic and institutional vision and strategies, overseen museum collections, new commissions, artist residencies, public programs, and managed numerous international collaborations.
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Bige Örer is an Istanbul- and London-based independent curator and writer dedicated to amplifying the voices and visions of artists. Her curatorial practice is rooted in centering creativity and artistic perspectives, ensuring that artists remain at the heart of every exhibition and project she oversees. From 2008 to 2024, Örer served as the director of the Istanbul Biennial, where she transformed the biennial into a dynamic platform for artistic collaboration and intellectual exchange. She was instrumental in developing programs that broadened the biennial’s reach, particularly focusing on children and youth, while fostering artistic engagement throughout Turkey and internationally. In 2022, Örer curated Once upon a time…, the Füsun Onur exhibition at the Pavilion of Turkey for the 59th Venice Biennale. Her curatorial projects also include Flâneuses (Institut français Istanbul, 2017), an ongoing series involving walks with artists. Örer played a key role in establishing the Istanbul Biennial Production and Research Program, the SaDe Artist Support Fund, and coordinated initiatives such as the Cité des Arts Turkey Workshop Artist Residency Program and the Turkish Pavilion at the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of the Venice Biennale. Örer has contributed articles to numerous publications and taught at Istanbul Bilgi University. She has also served as a consultant and jury member for various international art institutions, and from 2013 to 2024, she was the vice president of the International Biennial Association. During this time, she also contributed to the editorial and programming board of the association’s journal, PASS. She is a member of the Curatorial Studies Workshop, part of the Expanded Artistic Research Network (EARN).
