Creative Network

Simon Groom

Director, Modern and Contemporary Art, National Galleries of Scotland.
Simon graduated with a degree in English Literature from Edinburgh University, before spending a year living and working in Japan and three years in Italy, where he taught English literature and critical theory at Florence University. He returned to London to complete an MA and then a PhD in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art. For three years he worked as the curator at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, where he curated, amongst other shows, the first UK retrospective of the Japanese group, Mono-ha. In 2003, he was appointed Head of Exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, where he curated numerous exhibitions of modern and contemporary international art, including “The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China”. In November 2007 he was appointed Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. In that time he has sought to establish and develop the profile of the Gallery in its promotion of modern and contemporary art, and to build and promote Scotland’s reputation as a leading international centre for contemporary art. He has played an active role in many institutions, including Governor of Glasgow School of Art, Board member of the Young People’s Committee, Royal Society of Edinburgh, member of the National Cultural Diplomacy Group at the British Council, Board member of Rothesay Pavilion, and is on the Advisory Board of Art UK.

For his selection Simon has chosen the work of Sculpture and Environmental Art student Dexter Stokes-Mellor for their work ‘I listen to Blue Monday Every Monday 2018 – 2020′ and ’24 X Psycho’.