Panel Discussion: Friends in Conversation

Join co-curators Melanie Pocock, Ikon, and Marilou Laneuville, macLYON, alongside three exhibiting artists, for a panel discussion exploring friendship, in response to Ikon’s exhibition Friends in Love and War – L’Éloge des meilleur·es ennemi·es.

The panel discuss how the theme of friendship has influenced their artistic practices and curatorial ideas – this includes the artists’ residencies which have formed part of the exchange. Curated collaboratively, the exhibition illuminates the many faces of friendship to form a nuanced depiction of this vital human relationship. It also reflects on diplomatic alliances, as the presentation takes place in the partner cities of Birmingham and Lyon.  

This exhibition is supported by the British Council and is presented as part of UK/France Spotlight on Culture 2024 – Together We Imagine, with additional support from Fluxus Art Projects and Birmingham City University.

Melanie Pocock, Artistic Director (Exhibitions), Ikon, leads on the gallery’s exhibition programme, publications, and, with the wider team, off-site projects. Pocock joined Ikon in 2020 and has curated exhibitions including a major presentation of performance art by Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarmo (2023); Horror in the Modernist Block, an exhibition of work by 20 UK and international contemporary artists exploring the relationship between architectural modernism and horror (2022-23); and off-site projects including artist Hew Locke’s city-centre installation Foreign Exchange, presented by Birmingham 2022 Festival. Pocock moved to Ikon from her previous position as Assistant Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICA), prior to which she held curatorial positions at Modern Art Oxford and Art Scene China. She holds an MA (Distinction) in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London.

Canadian-born Marilou Laneuville is Head of Exhibitions and Publications at Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art, where she has worked for the past sixteen years. Laneuville recently curated the monographic exhibitions AYA TAKANO – New Myth (2023), Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg – The Skin Is a Thin Container (2023), and Christine Rebet – Escapology (2021), as well as co-curating the group exhibitions Comme un parfum d’aventure (2020-2021), presenting artworks from the collections of macLYON and the Lyon Museum of Fine Art in dialogue with those of guest artists. Since 2019, she has also been co-artistic director of Jeune création internationale, an exhibition devoted to emerging artists and presented as part of the Lyon Biennale.