ART LIFE JOURNEY
1948-51
Fine Art Scholarship, Chelsea College of Art and Design
1964-69
Participated in performances (events/happenings) in UK and Europe, including the Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS). (Joseph Beuys, Fluxus, Yoko Ono, John Latham and others.) Teaching at St Martins and Hornsey Schools of Art.
1966-89
ARTIST PLACEMENT GROUP (APG)
Initiated and coordinated the Artist Placement Group (APG) in collaboration with John Latham, joined by artists including Jeffrey Shaw, Barry Flanagan, Stuart Brisley, David Hall and Anna Ridley.
Negotiated and effected Industrial Placements with: British Steel, British Rail, British Airways, Esso Petroleum, ICI Fibres, Ocean Fleets, Hille International and on the basis of the Whitehall Treaty, UK Central Government persuaded of bilateral interest. The Civil Service Memorandum of 1973 related Artist activity into Government activity with: the Department of Environment, the Scottish Office, Peterlee Development Corporation, the Department of Health and others.
From 1977, negotiated with Nicholas Tresilian new artist role into EEC policy: Artist as Cultural Worker. 1980-82, numerous private or semi-private APG meetings are held in Paris (British Embassy, on the invitation of British Ambassador Sir Reginald Hibbert, 1980), Eindhoven (Apollohuis, organised by Rolf and Ros Sachsse, 1982), Amsterdam (part of the 1982 ILEA Conference), Bonn and Brussels and in 1985 established pilot European Placement Programme, funded by EEC Cultural Sector.
Selected APG Exhibitions and Events
1968
Industrial Negative Symposium, Mermaid Theatre, London
1971
Between 6, Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, Germany
1971
Art and Economics, [Inn70] Hayward Gallery, London
1975
The New Profession, Garage Gallery, London
1977
Documenta 6, Kassel, Germany
1977
Artist Placement Group: Kunst als Soziale Strategie in Institutionen und Organisationen, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
1977
Incidental Person Approach to Government seminar Royal College of Art, London
1978
APG: Incidental Person Approach to Government, Whitechapel Gallery, London
1979
‘L’Engineering conceptuel’ in Un Certain Art Anglais, Musee d’art Moderne, Paris, France
1979
Kunst als Soziale Strategie in Organisazionen und Institutionen Museum Moderner Kunst, Palais, Liechtenstein, Vienna, Austria
1989-2008
ORGANISATION + IMAGINATION (O+I)
Established O+I as an independent international artist network, consultancy and research organization, leading negotiations between artists and key UK/EU public and private sector organisations.
Selected O+I Projects
1989-91
Negotiated/led Southwark Educational Research Project, Inner London Education Authority and the London Borough of Southwark.
1991-1992
Established interventionist placement course 'Art in Context:Repositioning the Artist in Society’, Chelsea College of Art.
1991
Speaker at Scandinavian Management Symposium, Bergen, Norway, establishing Norwegian participation in O+I European Network and Erasmus.
1990-2002
Established European Network for Repositioning Art in Decision-Making Processes of Society with Institutes of Art & Design in Europe.
1990
Paper presented at Inaugural conference of ELIA (European League of Institutes of Art and Design), Amsterdam
1992
Academic coordinator of Erasmus programme, ART IN CONTEXT, at the London Institute, Chelsea, in collaboration with colleges in Norway, Spain and Holland.
1994-98
British Telecom and the ‘UK Futures Group’
1996
Curated at ICA London first event in series The New Role of Art in the 21st Century
1999-2000
Art & Economics II proposal
2001
Teambuild, conference, Baltic, Newcastle
2003
Interrupt Symposium - Artist as Educator, IKON Gallery, Birmingham
1993-2020
Barbara Steveni’s Practice
The representation of APG’s ‘lost history’ and current practice to a contemporary generation of interested artists and cultural policy organisations, via illustrated lectures and performance integrating the archival traces. Working to establish an academic base for art theory and practice in this new role (London Institute and Goldsmiths).
Selected Exhibitions, Projects and Performances
1993
Performance at Borshch exhibition, St. Petersburg, Russia
2001
Antagonismes, MACBA, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain
2002-15
I AM AN ARCHIVE (IAAA) –exhibitions, performances and conferences
2002
potential: ongoing archive, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton and TENT, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2005
Produkt and Vision performance, Kunstfabrik, Berlin
2005
Art and Social Intervention: The Incidental Person Symposia, Tate Britain, London
2006-2007
Revisits - Scotland and Birmingham. Performances and events at locations of APG government placements.
2007
Between 1: Value, South London Gallery
2008
Context is half the work, Manifesto Marathon, Serpentine Gallery, London
2009-10
Barbara Steveni – Beyond the Acid Free, Arnolfini, Bristol
2010
The Incidental Person, New York Apex Gallery
2012
The Individual and the Organisation: Artist Placement Group 1966-79, Raven Row, London
2012
Performance with Laure Prouvost, MaxMara Prize, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2013-17
CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN OURSELVES
2015-16
Context is Half the Work – A Partial History of the Artist Placement Group, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin, Germany and Summerhall, Edinburgh, Scotland.
2018
SERP Reactivated, Peckham Platform shown at Flat Time House and Tate Modern.
COLLECTIONS
1993-2002
Tate Banner/Crate