top of page
We produce and curate great art and ambitious projects
Looking Forward develops interdisciplinary projects that move across exhibitions, research, publishing, residencies, digital platforms, and public programmes. We work with institutions, artists, and communities to explore how curating can respond to contemporary cultural, ecological, and social urgencies.
Our work is structured around long-term collaborations, flexible formats, and shared authorship, adapting to different scales, contexts, and challenges. From field-based projects and experimental pedagogies to strategic consultancy and critical publishing, each strand contributes to a wider commitment to rethinking how culture is created, organised, and shared.
New publication: Artistic Practices as Environmental Research
Publication of a new chapter by Looking Forward’s founding director, Carolina Lio-Rodrigues, in Sustainable Design, Art, and Innovation: A New Paradigm on Creative Practice, published by Springer and edited by Muhammad Nawaz Tunio, Hasim Altan, Shlagha Agarwal and Marina Checa Olivas. “Artistic Practices as Environmental Research: Designing and Implementing Public Engagement for Sustainability” explores how socially engaged art can operate not simply as commentary on the clim
ECAH2026 - Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts
The 14th European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH2026) is taking place at SOAS and UCL, in London. We are pleased to share that our founding director, Carolina Lio Rodrigues, will be presenting and chairing the session “Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts”. ECAH2026 is an international interdisciplinary conference organised by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR). The conference brings together scholars, researchers and practitioners working across t
SHCG Journal: Engagement, Outreach or Participation?
We are pleased to share that a new journal article by our Community Engagement Curator, Sylvia Keck-Soler, has been published in the Social History in Museums Journal. Titled "Engagement, Outreach or Participation? Reflections on Community Work and Creative Health in London Art Institutions", the article builds on the insights gathered during last year's Feedforward Series on Creative Wellbeing. Sylvia's investigation offers a timely insight into how major London arts organis
Looking Forward at DCDC25: Reimagining Accessibility Through AI
We’re excited to announce that our director, Carolina Lio, will be speaking at this year’s Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities (DCDC25) conference at Durham University, one of the UK’s most significant cross-sectoral events uniting the gallery, library, archive, museum, and academic (GLAMA) communities. Hosted by the British Library, Jisc, and The National Archives, and held at Durham University, DCDC25 brings together over 500 delegates from around the world to
SHCG Conference 2025: Curating Communities
We’re pleased to announce that Looking Forward’s curator, Sylvia Keck will be speaking at the Social History Curators Group (SHCG) Conference 2025, taking place on 25–26 June. This year’s theme, Curating Communities, brings together practitioners exploring how museums and cultural organisations engage with the publics they serve. Sylvia’s talk, titled "Programming Community: Creative Health Practices in London’s Art Sector," offers a critical reflection on the rise of creativ
Study Group at Delfina Foundation: Narrative Report
The first Slow Disasters Study Group took place at the Delfina Foundation in London on 29 May 2025. Hosted by artist and designer Andrew Merritt, curator Carolina Lio, and artist Emilio Hernández Martínez, with recorded contributions from Dr Nik Petek-Sargeant (University of Cambridge) and Maya Marshak (Sustainability Institute, South Africa), the session marked the launch of a transnational conversation on the ethics and practice of repair. Participants explored how Field Ho
Field Hospital: Unearthing Study Group at Delfina Foundation
On Thursday, 29 May 2025, from 18:30 to 20:30, the Delfina Foundation in London will host the inaugural gathering of the Field Hospital project. This event invites participants to explore how we can collectively unearth the ghosts of degraded landscapes and consider what it means to feed a place back to life. Join us for the first public event of Field Hospital, a long-term transdisciplinary project that acts as a nursery for land restoration in zones of slow disaster — a ter
AR@K25 symposium in Oslo: "Truth, reality and artistic invention"
On March 18, Carolina Lio presents the paper The Politics of Truth in Socially Engaged Art: Agenda or Authenticity? at AR@K, the annual, cross-disciplinary, international symposium for artistic research hosted by Kristiania University in Oslo. Socially engaged art is often framed as an authentic platform for representing marginalised voices and creating ethical, care-based practices. However, such works inherently rely on selective truths shaped by the artist’s creative inte
Feedforward: Creative Well-Being
On the 24th of January and the 7th of February, we brought together curators and community engagement leaders from across London to explore the intersection of art and mental well-being in a two-part Feedforward session titled Creative Well-being: Cultivating Mental Health through Artistic Collaboration. Feedforward: Creative Well-being seeks to uncover best practices, foster collaboration, and identify new opportunities for integrating mental health and community-focused art
My Echo, My Shadow and Me (virtual show)
Our project within Esch European Capital of Culture 2022 consists of a physical show at the University of Luxembourg, a book and this...
Feedforward: Heritage of Slavery
A British Art Network seminar, held at Museum of London Docklands and supported by Tate, Paul Mellon Centre, Yale and Arts Council England. 28 October 2022 Museum of London Docklands No 1, West India Quay, Hertsmere Rd, London E14 4AL event by invitation only Heritage of Slavery is a BAN (British Art Network) Seminar developed as a special session within the Feedforward programme. The session focus was contemporary artistic and curatorial responses to historical trauma in the
My Echo, My Shadow and Me at University of Luxembourg
Our project within Esch European Capital of Culture 2022. The project takes place at the University of Luxembourg and involves over 50 young people, more than half refugees in temporary accommodation and camps. The exhibition My Echo, My Shadow and Me at Maison du Savoir, University of Luxembourg, is the outcome of regular autobiographical workshops led by artist Cristina Nuñez in 2021 and 2022, involving more than 50 people from three groups: a class C.O.P. (students who ha
bottom of page