art critic, curator & consultant
Sacha Craddock is an independent art critic, writer & curator based in London.
Co-founder of ArtSchool Palestine, Craddock is co-founder or the Contemporary Art Award and council member of the Abbey Awards in Painting at the British School at Rome, Trustee of the Shelagh Cluett Trust, and President of the International Association of Art Critics AICA UK, the British section of International Association of Art Critics. She was Chair of the Board of New Contemporaries and selection process from 1996 until December 2021.
Her commitment to contemporary art encompasses curating, organizing, promotion, setting up structures, education, critical writing, and creating new networks designed to bring artists and audiences together. Selected critical writing includes essays on Alison Wilding, Laura Ford, Mark Boulos, Benjamin Senior, Angus Fairhurst, Richard Billingham, Jose Dávila, Chantal Joffe, Mustafa Hulusi, Heri Dono, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosa Lee, Young In, Alberto Savinio and Adam Henein which is part of Misk Art Institute’s the Art Library series. She was the co-founder of Bloomberg Space and its curator from 2002-2011. More recently, her curatorial contribution includes Turner Prize Hull 2017, ‘Strike Site’ at Backlit Gallery, Nottingham 2018, the SPECTRUM Art Award at Saatchi Gallery May 2018, and Creekside Open and Exeter Open, 2019.
Photo: Isabelle Young
Sacha Craddock's present and former practices include:
President of AICA-UK
Co-founder of ArtSchool Palestine
Co-founder of The SPECTRUM Art Award
Co-founder Bloomberg Space
Co-founder of the Contemporary Art Award at the British School at Rome
Co- founder of The Agency for Art and Autism
Chair of the selection process and Chair of board New Contemporaries (1996 – 2021)
Co-curator, Bloomberg Space (2002 – 2011)
Curator, Sadler's Wells (2004 – 2010)
“Obsessed with contemporary art, I love looking and being critical; my passion for new work is constant. I am particularly excited at the moment by my research into the public, private, educational, and institutional aspects of British Art in 1988, just before the advent of the internet.
The current political situation means that the art being made today might seem light, utopian even, yet a true fight for art, art education, and freedom will inevitably involve some defence of indulgence and failure.
I am fascinated, also, by art from Mexico, Ethiopia, Spain, Palestine, and Jamaica”
— Sacha Craddock bbbbb