Consultant on African & Oceanic Art
Kevin Conru is known for his publications on Southern African art, on the arts of the Pacific Islands and on the photographs of Hugo Bernatzik. He has travelled extensively in the Pacific and is a member of the Pacific Arts Association and the Oceanic Art Society. He has an Arts Policy MA from The City University, London, and is an orchestral double bassist.
Kevin has published online the South Seas diary of a turn-of-the 20th century Australian journalist, and has produced a major book on the art of the Bismarck Archipelago in Melanesia which was released in September, 2013. This book formed the basis of the Rotterdam Wereld Museum's Ring of Fire exhibition that took place in 2013-2014. He has curated an important exhibition of Papua New Guinea masterpieces from the Royal Museum for Central Africa, which was held in Brussels in 2014.
Along with Robert Hales, he published a comprehensive book on the archive of William Oldman, and later, the archive of Baron Freddy Rolin. Subsequently, he has curated and published on the arts of the Sepik / Ramu area of Papua New Guinea in 2019 and the arts of Polynesia in 2023. In 2024, he organised an Oceanic art exhibition that celebrated 100 years of Surrealism for the ARTONOV festival in Brussels.
Kevin Conru advises the Wyvern Research Institute in London. Beyond his curatorial and academic work, he produced two short films: The Oldman Collection - Maori Art in London (2006) and Ontong Java (2023).
Contact:
48 rue des Minimes
Sablon
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 478 566 459
Email: kevinconru@yahoo.com