Steve McQueen is a British artist celebrated for his moving image work, and the acclaimed director of award-winning feature films. On Sunday 3 June, the final day of his Groundwork exhibition at CAST, McQueen discussed his work in conversation with Nicholas Serota at Truro’s Plaza Cinema.

Steve McQueen won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 for ‘Hunger’ and the FIPRESCI prize for ‘Shame’ at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. ’12 Years a Slave’ was awarded three Oscars at the 2014 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. McQueen won the Turner Prize in 1999 and represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2009.

Nicholas Serota was Director of Tate from 1988 to 2017. Previously Director of the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, and Director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, Serota has been Chair of Arts Council England since February 2017.

An exhibition of McQueen’s films Gravesend (2007) and Unexploded (2007) was presented for Groundwork at CAST in Helston, from 5 May to 3 June.

This Groundwork event was recorded by Neil Fox, an academic and founder, with Dario Llinares, of the Cinematologists. The Cinematologists is a podcast and film club that brings fans, filmmakers, critics and academics together to watch, discuss and engage with cinema of all forms, genres and eras. Listen to the Cinematologists’ Groundwork podcast here.

Artcornwall director Rupert White also made a video recording of a section of this talk – to see Steve McQueen discuss his early career and the development of the films shown in Cornwall for Groundwork visit artcornwall.org.