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Scott Burnham is a prominent Creative Director and Curator exploring creativity in urban contexts and its applications in contemporary culture. His work often focuses on activity at the edges of architecture, design and creative innovation in Europe, North America and China. Recent projects indicate that his attention is shifting towards introducing open source approaches to creative projects. He represents an extensive network of practitioners and innovators working in this area, and lectures frequently on the subject.
Early career
Burnham’s early work includes projects created and directed for The National Theatre, London, IAC Cultural Programme, Barcelona, The city of Prague, and The Royal Society for British Sculptors, London. In 1999, Burnham created the “UrbanMade” exhibition series, appearing at several galleries in London from 1999-2001, which applied Duchamp’s concept of the readymade (hence the name) to the urban landscape, celebrating the “art created by the city itself”, and the aesthetics produced by the organic forces at work in the city.
In 2002, he applied his organic creativity principle to a number of design-led projects, including serving as Design Director for the innovative Mulberry Design project run by Jude Kelly’s METAL organisation in London.
Recent career
In 2003, he appointed as Creative Director for Urbis in Manchester, UK. While at Urbis he established and directed “Ill Communication”, one of Europe’s largest exhibitions of street art featuring the (then) up and coming talents of Swoon and Os Gemeos, among others. His work at Urbis also includes ‘SuperCity’, a multi-disciplinary collaboration with architect Will Alsop to completely re-think the future of the urban environment; Urban Oasis with Berlin’s Office for Subversive Architecture, and At Home, a project created with designer Peter Saville and displayed on billboards throughout the city of Manchester. Other exhibitions curated by Burnham whilst at Urbis include “D&AD: The Best Advertising and Design in the World”, which was ranked as one of the ‘Top 5’ Exhibitions in 2006 by The Times, and “The China Show” exploring the design, architecture and creativity of contemporary China. Burnham left Urbis in 2006.
In July 2006 Burnham shifted his focus to his ongoing work with Droog Design, Amsterdam. With Droog, he created and developed the Urban Play project, in which urban intervention becomes part of the design process, creating an organic, continually developing series of urban objects and areas.
Most recently, he has been appointed as Creative Director of the 2009 Montreal Biennial, and continues to lecture extensively on creative innovation.
Talks and Lectures
Burnham’s recent talks include a keynote on cultural leadership to the Transforma organisation in Portugal, an open forum on the future of public space in Linz, Austria, the talk “Urban Gaia: The self-curating city” (London Architecture Week), “Open Source Urban” (Cityscape Conference on Urban Design, London) and “The VJ of the Everyday: Physically Remixing the Urban Visual” (University of Manchester - and soon to be published in the book “Visualising the City”, Routledge Press). He has also addressed the International Conference on European Policy, Amsterdam, on innovative creative catalysts, the CulturMed Conference, Catania, Italy, and the city of Amsterdam’s ‘Space for the Creative Economy’ Symposium.
Media Appearances
“An acknowledged media whore”, as he confesses to on his website, Burnham’s work and commentary has been featured on BBC television, The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, Sky News, Spain TV1, Design Week, Grafik, The Guardian, The Times, Computer Arts Magazine and The BBC Culture Show, and most recently in journals in Portugal and Austria.
In 2005 he was named as one of Prospect Magazine’s “Power 100” – 100 of the most influential people in the UK, and The Guardian (UK) attributed his work at Urbis as transforming the institution into “an intellectual powerhouse that explores modern urban environments with creative flair”. Some question if the organisation has sustained that accolade since his departure.
He divides his time between residences in London and Montreal.
Links
www.scottburnham.com