Grace Jones is set to curate the 2020 installment of London festival Meltdown. The music and cultural event, spread across nine days, will take place at the Southbank Centre.
In a statement, the music, fashion, and cultural icon said: “Year after year, the festival continues to spread its colourful wings, allowing its curators to bring together an array of diverse talent not seen anywhere else. It’s about time I was asked to curate Meltdown darling, don’t you think?!”
Jones last preformed at the festival in 2008 when it was curated by Massive Attack, and the year previously when headed up by Jarvis Cocker. Across its 26-year lifespan, the festival – which began as a classical music event – has seen Patti Smith, M.I.A., Anohni, Nick Cave, Scott Walker, Laurie Anderson, and Yoko Ono lead the schedule. Jones is the sixth woman to curate the show, and her lineup selection will be announced sometime in 2020.
Bengi Ünsal, Southbank’s head of contemporary music, said: “Grace Jones is unlike anybody else. She was the first artist who made me feel that I could express myself, be whatever I wanted to be, and not be afraid of what the world might say.”
Her last album, Hurricane, was in 2008, with her autobiography I’ll Never Write My Memoirs in 2015. She was the subject of an expansive documentary, Bloodlight and Bami, in 2018.
Meltdown is set to take place June 12-21.