Marcel Curates
Opening 10 October 2026, 3-6pm
Exhibition open daily 11 October – 8 November 2026
‘Marcel Curates’ is a group show of Yorkshire-based sculptors. It is the ninth exhibition to be held at Threshold and the first to be selected by open call. We are delighted to announce that the selected artists are Melissa Burntown, Luke Beech and James Briggs.
Marcel is the lead curator and selector. Marcel is a cat. He has lived on Argie Terrace since 2023 and has spent more time than most engaging with and informally invigilating the work at Threshold. To enable a tactile and playful curatorial process, artists were asked to send a cat-safe physical companion to an existing sculpture they would like to exhibit – a model, a maquette, a conceptual extension or material sample. The companion pieces were then presented to Marcel during a selection day documented by assistants Jonathan Orlek, Julia McKinlay and Benjamin Barra and by photographer Sam Hutchinson.
Threshold editions
We will also be launching a new publication to accompany the project, including a foreword by Jonathan Orlek and Julia McKinlay, an essay by Benjamin Barra, and photography by Sam Hutchinson.
About the artists
Melissa Burntown is an artist and researcher based in Leeds. They have recently completed a PhD at Newcastle University exploring artists’ lived experiences of precarity. Their work for ‘Marcel Curates’ was produced in direct dialogue with their experience of learning to throw pottery and represents a wider reflection of making practices and ideas around creative production as a means of release or self-soothing in the face of adversity.
Melissa Burntown, 'Collapse, Consume, Convene', 2022.
︎ @melissa_burntown
James Briggs’ sculptural practice is rooted in site-specificity, with a focus on transforming and reinterpreting physical spaces to invite new ways of seeing and engaging with the environment. Central to his work is the process of deconstructing and reconstructing spatial elements – reworking what already exists to create installations that slow down perception and draw attention to the unseen.
James Briggs, 'Between Systems', 2025.︎ @briggsjames_
Luke Beech is an artist who blurs the line between authenticity and act until it stops mattering which is which. Equal parts dry and disarming, he approaches masculinity like a stage prop: something sturdy enough to lean on, flimsy enough to fold mid-performance. Working from a queer position, both inside and outside these traditions, he allows the illusion to crack - just enough to show the labour holding it in place: the sweat, the doubt, the careful choreography and the residue left behind.
Luke Beech, 'Foul Kiss', 2023. Installation shot at Humber Street Gallery. Photograph by Jules Lister.︎ @lukebeechartist