Interview: Sculptor and Summer Exhibition Curator Alison Wilding
The Wick
August 2023
After two years in winter, the world’s most joyful art exhibition is returning to its intended season. Run without interruption since 1769, the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy (RA) showcases art in all forms, from prints, to film, to photography and sculpture, and will open to the public on 21 June.
Celebrated British sculptor Alison Wilding is the curator for the 254th edition and has chosen the urgent theme of ‘Climate’ for this year. Wilding’s committee is comprised of fellow RAs Rana Begum, Stephen Chambers, David Mach, Farshid Moussavi, Níall McLaughlin, Grayson Perry, Conrad Shawcross and Bill Woodrow.
Wilding was elected a Royal Academician in 1999. She rose to prominence in the 1980s as part of the New British Sculpture, a group that also included Richard Deacon, Tony Cragg and Anish Kapoor and was known for combining traditional and new industrial materials with both figurative and abstract imagery. In 1988 and 1992 she was nominated for the Turner Prize. […]