LAUREN AMAZEEN 

Lauren Amazeen formed Vanguard Visions Inc. in 1997 in New York City. She has spent the past 30 years working with and writing about visionary artists and creative thinkers whose work transforms the way we perceive culture and the human experience.

She is based in Oxford and Glasgow, where she is a contemporary arts critic, writer, lecturer, and an independent producer.  She is currently a researcher/curator for an evolving project, Hidden Objects Oxford.  She is a visiting lecturer at Glasgow School of Art and an external PhD supervisor at Edinburgh College of Art. Lauren is a Fellow of the RSA, London, and a member of The Frontline Club.

She has written regularly for Artforum, and has contributed to ArtReview, Tema Celeste contemporary art magazine (Milan), Crawford fashion magazine (Athens), and Paletten contemporary Swedish arts journal. She is a member of the London chapter of the Association of International Art Critics (AICA).

Lauren serves as Chair of Cove Park international artists residencies in the west of Scotland and sits on the Board of David Dale Gallery, Glasgow.  She was the Chair of the Glasgow Centre of Contemporary Arts, and served on the Board of Market Gallery and Outset Scotland and the Executive Committee, Friends of Glasgow School of Art.

In New York, she served on the Advisory Board of the NYC Tribeca Partnership, and served as a member of the NYC Mayor’s subcommittee on Digital Arts and Culture. She has served as President and an Executive Board member of the Stockholm International Women’s Club and co-founder of ACE (Arts, Culture, Etc.)

In the 90’s, as Executive Director of The Kitchen center for art, video, music, dance, literature and film in New York City, she worked with artists to develop their work for larger and more diverse audiences:Kitchenette – a video annex in SoHo to exhibit video art and installations; The American Laboratory – a residency program at Bennington College for the creation of collaborative multi disciplinary work for the 21st Century; New Media – international collaborations using new technologies, in particular ISDN technology and multi media (including world premier of the Virtual Abbey – a multi-site collaboration between New York and Thoronet Abbey in France featuring David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir, as well as a multi-site concert with the band Future Sound of London); New Opera – commissioned and developed multi media works for the 21st Century; Kitchen Residency – program individually tailored for select artists to create, develop and present new works for larger audiences.Director’s Projects — developed a multi media studio theater, with an installation gallery and video editing suite; produced a series of high profile benefit concerts throughout city featuring artists Robert Wilson, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich,  Allen Ginsberg, Eric Bogosian, Suzanne Vega, Kronos Quartet, John Cale, Ron Vawter, David Hykes, Glenn Branca and Meredith Monk.

Published :  The Kitchen Video Collection: Two decades of the Video Vanguard and The Kitchen Turns 20.

In the 1980’s she worked with the founders of the ZKM (center for art and media technology) in Karlsruhe, Germany designing a model to bring artists and technologies together. She curated the first video exhibition Soul Search for theMultimediale 1 in 1989 and served as a consultant for the initial purchases of the ZKM’s video art collection.   She contributed to the 20^th Anniversary publication and was a contributor to the Karlsruhe Artists’ Recollection.

She has given lectures around her work in the UK, Sweden and within Europe; including the Glasgow School of Art, Common Guild, Strathallan School in Scotland, Malmö Art Academy in Sweden, the ZKM in Karlruhe, Germany .

She received her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts and completed post graduate studies in art history with honors at Radcliffe College, Harvard University.  She completed studies in visual arts and writing at Bennington College and attended the School of International Training, Vermont.

For further information, send e-mail to info@vanguardvisions.com