Louise O’Kelly is an independent curator and arts professional based in London. In 2015 she founded Block Universe, London’s International Performance Art Festival that takes place annually across major institutions and unique off-site spaces throughout the city. Through Block Universe, O’Kelly curates a programme of performances that cross boundaries between visual arts, music and contemporary dance, creating a high-profile platform to raise the visibility of a new generation of artists. Operating under a single curatorial vision, O’Kelly explores a series of interlinking themes with each edition of the festival, commissioning and producing works by UK-based and international artists.
Previous projects have focussed on performance and the live encounter, manifesting mostly as one-off collaborative, multidisciplinary events in partnership with institutions, artist-run spaces and collectives. Underlining her curatorial practise is a keen interest in the relationship of cultural and embodied memory in performance, and the role of choreography and dance in the visual arts.
O’Kelly regularly speaks on panels in relation to performance and since 2014 co-hosts an ongoing talk series on contemporary art for the Soho House Group. She is also currently Artforum’s Representative for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. She has been nominated for the ICI’s ‘Independent Vision Curatorial Award’ (2016), been nominator for The Arts Foundation’s ‘Live Art’ Award (2017), Jury member for The Celeste Prize – Installation, Sculpture and Performance category (2017), and selector for Delfina Art Foundation’s ‘Performance as Process’ residency (2018). O’Kelly holds a MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths College, London.