CURATORIAL PLACEMAKING & PROGRAMMING

Simon Oldfield & Associates is pleased to present the 2026 Art & Culture programme at Wolterton Hall, featuring a major solo exhibition by Phyllida Barlow and a solo project by Daisy Parris. Conceived by Artistic Director and Lead Curator, Simon Oldfield, the programme is delivered in collaboration with Guest Curators Clare Lilley and Gemma Rolls-Bentley.

Following the success of Wolterton's 2025 programme, including Sea State, in 2026 we continue our focus on the interaction between contemporary practice and historic architecture. By setting two distinct contemporary practices against one of Britain’s most assured Palladian houses, the programme allows each artist to challenge and reframe the historic environment in different ways. Supported by our partners including Hauser & Wirth and Sim Smith, the initiative further includes our ongoing public programme with the Clay Research Group and an residency partnership with Norwich University of the Arts.

Read more here. 

For the first time in a generation, Wolterton Hall opened its doors for visitors with a new Arts and Culture Programme delivered by Simon Oldfield & Associates.

Launched in 2025, the programme featured Sea State, an exhibition with Maggi Hambling and Ro Robertson curated by Simon Oldfield with guest curator, Gemma Rolls-Bentley.  In addition, we introduced artist residencies with Dutch collective De Onkruidenier in partnership with the Sainsbury Centre’s during ‘Can the Seas Survive Us?’, and Norwich-based Clay Research Group.  

The programme balances juxtaposes the historic house with contemporary art, aiming to create a dialogue between old and new, while building a thriving creative ecosystem at the heart of Wolterton.

Read more and view installation images here. 

In collaboration with the Contemporary Art Society, artist Yane Calovski, presented works from the Tate Collection and Archive.  The installation at Tate Britain, Ponder Pause Process (a Situation), was part of Tate’s Art Now programme and included works by Liam Gillick, Francis Alys, Vito Acconci, Joseph Beuys, Emma Kay, Christopher Wool, Henri Matisse, Jeff Wall, an unpublished manuscript by Sven Berlin, and the mediative sound work A Flock of Rotation by French artist Samon Takahashi.  The installation aimed to question a range of preconceptions and assumptions that relate to the Tate Collection and conservation of art. 

Image: Installation view of ‘Ponder Pause Process (A Situation)’ at Tate Britain, London, 2010. Photo: Joe Plommer and Matthew Blaney

At the invitation of Christopher Bailey, Simon Oldfield curated an art and culture programme in collaboration with Pindrop, responding to their collections over several seasons.

By staging interventions and live performances that referred directly to the inspiration for Burberry’s collections, our programme introduced work by leading artists, writers and actors at Burberry's landmark exhibitions, "Makers House", "Here We Are" and "Henry Moore", in London and Paris. 

In 2008, Simon Oldfield Gallery opened in Soho with "Ascension", which included one of the first solo presentations of paintings by Michael Armitage.

The gallery subseqently moved to East London before establishing a permanent location in Covent Garden, and finally Mayfair. Across a decade, Simon Oldfield Gallery exhibited artists including Eddie Peake, Fiona Banner, Roger Hiorns, Chris Ofili, Katie Cuddon, Juno Calypso, Neal Tait, Jonathan Trayte, Alison Wilding, Mark Titchner and Michael Dean. 

The exhibition programme received widespread critical acclaim and enjoyed the support of various institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery and the Contemporary Art Society through their curator-led tours programme. 

Collaborations included James Long's Spring/Summer Collection Presentation 2011/2012, GQ Style Art x Fashion, and the launch of Pindrop by Simon Oldfield and writer, podcaster and broadcaster Elizabeth Day. 

Image: New Sympony, Carlos Place, Mayfair