David Elliott
David Elliott is a British-born art gallery and museum curator and writer about modern and contemporary art. From 2008 to 2010, he was Artistic Director for the 17th Biennale of Sydney, ‘THE BEAUTY OF DISTANCE: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age’ which took place 12 May – 1 August 2010.
From 2011 to 2012 he was Artistic Director of the 1st Kiev International Biennial of Contemporary Art entitled ‘The Best of Times, The Worst of Times. Rebirth and Apocalypse in Contemporary Art’. From 2013 to 2014 he was Artistic Director of the IV Moscow Biennale of Young Art ‘A TIME FOR DREAMS’. From 2015 to 2016 he was Artistic Director of the 56th October Salon in Belgrade entitled ‘The Pleasure of Love.’ His exhibition ‘Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between heaven and hell in contemporary Japanese art,’ opened at Japan Society, New York in March 2011 and was judged by the American Branch of the International Association of Art Critics [AAICA] as ‘the best exhibition in a non-profit or public space in 2011’. ‘Between Heaven & Earth. Contemporary Art from the Centre of Asia’ was shown at Calvert 22 London from September to November 2011.
From 2010 to 2012 he was advising the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charitable Trust on the artistic development and programming of Tai Kwun, the Central Police Station Heritage site in Hong Kong. From 2010 to 2016 he was Chairman of the Board of the Triangle Arts Trust at Gasworks in London. From 2011 to 2017 he was on the jury of Kulturakademie Tarabya in Istanbul a residence scheme for artists of all kinds initiated by the German government to foster German-Turkish cultural exchange. Since 2010 he has been Chair of Judges of the Sovereign Asian Arts Prize in Hong Kong and Chair of the Advisory Board of MOMENTUM, Berlin. From 2015 to 2019 he was senior curator and vice-director to the Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art in Guangzhou. He is currently advising the Troy House Art Foundation in London. ‘Art & Trousers. Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Asian Art,’ an anthology of his writings, is published in 2021.
