Research Staff at Liverpool School of Art and Design

Since November 2000, Lewis Biggs has been Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art.

The 2002 Biennial ‘broke the rules’ by focusing on newly commissioned art, much of it for the public realm, researched collaboratively and realised by a team of locally based curators. This approach – and its success - established Liverpool Biennial as an original and significant contributor to the international spectrum of biennales.

Since then, Lewis has led the company to become one of the UK’s leading art commissioning agencies working in the public realm, dedicated to ‘engaging art, people and place’ through projects such as Antony Gormley’s Another Place, Jaume Plensa’s Dream and Richard Wilson’s Turning the Place Over.

Lewis was Director of Tate Liverpool from 1990 to 2000, (Curator of Exhibitions and Displays 1987-90); an exhibition officer for the Visual Arts Department of the British Council (1984-87), and Gallery Co-ordinator for Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol (1979-84). He helped launch the new wave of British sculpture in the 1980s with Tony Cragg’s first show in a public space in the UK (1980); with Objects and Sculpture co-curated with Sandy Nairne and Iwona Blazwick (1981); Between Object and Image (Madrid, Barcelona 1986); and Starlit Waters (1988).

As joint Curator / Director of Art Transpennine98 (with Robert Hopper) his focus moved beyond the museum / gallery context.

He is a Director of Culture Campus Ltd, a partnership between Liverpool’s Universities and major regional arts organisations dedicated to enhancing postgraduate studies and employment in Liverpool. He has been an external examiner at art schools including the Ruskin School, Oxford University; a Visiting Professor of Contemporary Art and an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University. He is General Editor of Tate Modern Artists (a series of books on contemporary artists appearing since October 2002).

Lewis is a former Director of North West Arts Board and of Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno. He has also been a member of the Art Panel of the Arts Council of England and of the Visual Art Advisory Committee of the British Council. He has been a judge for many prizes and competitions, including the John Moores Painting Competition. He is a Fellow of the RSA.