It's just after lunch on Wednesday afternoon and Tim Marlow, writer, arts broadcaster and director of exhibitions at White Cube, is stretching back in his office chair and smiling. 'I feel like I've just been de-mobbed,' he says. The reason for his good humour has something to do with the fact that he suddenly has a six-day space in his diary. 'This never happens,' he assures me. 'I came back from Spain yesterday and I was due to fly off to South Africa tonight but the trip's been postponed. It's not that I wasn't looking forward to it - I was - it's just that my dairy is usually very heavily programmed. Mind you, when I came in this morning I noticed that my PA had already started pencilling things in. But there's nothing heavy and it means I can actually make the Mercury Awards Dinner tonight, which I'm really looking forward to - I thought I was going to have to miss it for the second year running and it's always fun to watch the rock and rollers getting drunk and misbehaving!'
Tim Marlow speaks much more quickly in person than he does when he's on air. He starts a conversation in one direction, and then shoots off in another, gathering pace as he goes. While he talks he darts around in his chair, his computer firing emails at him all the while, and his phone punctuating our conversation with a constant stream of text messages. Marlow is an engaging and dynamic person to be around - he's smiley and always upbeat. His CV is very impressive. In 1993 he founded Tate: The Art Magazine, from 1991 to 1998 he presented Radio 4's arts programme Kaleidoscope, for which he won a Sony Award, and he's currently contracted to present 8-10 'walk-through' broadcasts a year for Channel Five. Fresh for this autumn will be a programme on Holbein on 17 October, followed by Velazquez a week later.
Perhaps Tim Marlow's most famous, or infamous television broadcast, though, was the now notorious 'Is Painting Dead?' debate for Channel Four, when Tracy Emin became enraged and 'swore and shouted her way into British television history'. Marlow clearly loves to be in the centre of the action, and it's not hard to see why, three years ago, Jay Jopling approached him to be the director of exhibitions at White Cube. 'Jay had this idea that I could oversee White Cube's exhibition programme, strategise on the gallery's future and work with the artists, which is what I've been doing. Jay has an extraordinary vision and it's an incredibly dynamic and exciting place to work but it's also organised around a very practical system. Sixty people work for White Cube, and I'm responsible for 12-15 of them.'
Although there's rarely a typical week in his life, Tim Marlow spends the majority of his time in the gallery or travelling for the gallery, and, he says, 'the television stuff pretty well happens over the weekend. I leave the gallery on a Friday night, start doing the final prep for filming and when I finish at the gallery at 5pm on Saturday, I run through till midnight - I do the same on Sunday as well. Then I'm back in the gallery bright and early on Monday again.'
Although Tim Marlow clearly enjoys his radio and television work, he says: 'I don't believe broadcasting can ever be your full life. It's too fickle an industry; the commissioning editor could change, or the controller, and that's it - the run's over.'
'You know, I don't consider myself to be the best arts broadcaster, but the ones who are have a background in the arts. For me, personally, I enjoy the variation. Having a foot in both the media and the art world gives me a different perspective. But what brings me the most joy professionally is working with the artists. Take Anselm Kiefer - there are few people I've met whose minds are as interesting as Kiefer's.'
The artists and the gallery are clearly going to be taking up much more of Marlow's time once White Cube opens its new space at Mason's Yard, opposite Jopling's original gallery in St Jamesin London's West End. There has been much speculation in the press about where the new space would be, and also controversy about who would inaugurate the new space, with rumours that Damien Hirst's loyalty to the Gagosian gallery, which has shown his work most recently in London and New York, was wavering and that he would be exhibiting work again with White Cube this autumn.
Marlow's beautifully shod feet neatly side-step any murky puddles here and he glides over the politics, constantly bringing the focus back to the art and the artists. 'Mason's Yard is going to be great. Gabriel Orozco will open for us at Mason's Yard on 28 September - which is going to be fantastic. I can't take you round the space yet - it's a building site - but believe me it will be worth the wait. What it will mean for White Cube is that we will have four spaces to programme - the main and smaller space in Hoxton Square, and a ground floor and basement space in Mason's Yard. There will be no hierarchy between the two sites. It will just give us the opportunity that we need to expand and develop and to strengthen our base in London - it'll double our programme... You know, London is a really an exciting city. It's so vibrant, the creative community is self-regenerating and despite the efforts of successive governments, we still have pretty decent art schools here. Frieze is a major art world staging post now too, and Zoo, and London is much more open to the international market.'
Throughout our conversation, Marlow is careful to stress two things: firstly, that White Cube has always been, and always will be, the product of Jopling's vision, and secondly that White Cube is not all about the so-called 'yBas'. He becomes a little agitated about this. 'I've been doing some statistical research on our past shows. Do you know that nearly 70% of all the exhibitions here at White Cube have been non-British artists?'
I ask him why he thinks the gallery is so closely associated with the yBas. 'It's partly a generational thing. I mean, Jay grew up with these guys, and obviously they've gone on to enjoy amazing success on the international scene.' The conversation then homes in on Tracey Emin and her recent invitation to represent Britain at next year's Venice Biennale. 'Funnily enough I was talking about Venice with Tracey after Gilbert and George had their show [at the Biennale in 2005]. Tracey told me': "I would love to do the pavilion, and I'd like to do it soon." 'I said to her - "why don't you wait - till you're 80 - it would be great to do it when you're 80, wouldn't it?!" 'But as it turns out it's happened much sooner. I'm completely chuffed. She'll do a wonderful pavilion.'
Marlow returns to the subject of White Cube's future. I ask him if he's involved in trying to change its image. 'Look', he says, 'Although they grow up generationally, the key to a successful gallery is to show artists and work that crosses generationally, and internationally. What excites me about all the artists we work with is that they all possess a critical and intellectual rigour, combined with a visceral, visual power.'
When I ask him about his own taste in art, Marlow replies, 'it's quite catholic really', but he avoids being drawn any more specifically than that. He clearly sees his role at White Cube as spearheading what he calls 'an incredibly ambitious programme'. Becoming very excited, he tells me that 'perhaps the most important thing for the gallery right now is that we've forged a relationship with five major international artists: Anselm Kiefer, Gabriel Orozco, Jeff Wall, Andreas Gursky and Juile Mehretu. We've also begun working with some really extraordinary and exciting young women artists such as Jessica Rankin and Ellen Altfest.'
Although Marlow won't reveal any names other than Rankin and Altfest, White Cube is rumoured to be working on developing its emerging artist side. There has also been talk about the gallery developing its website but Marlow stresses that 'it's not going to have any blogs.'
Clearly both White Cube and Tim Marlow are on the verge of a period of great change and excitement. Marlow is shortly to be married - although he confesses that his schedule is so tight his 'stag do' will probably have to be after the wedding. I ask Marlow what he thinks the future might hold for him. 'In a year's time I'll be here, programming another phenomenal series of shows for White Cube. But in five, or ten year's time, I really don't have a clue. Part of me wants the clichéd dream - I have contracts for books - and I would like to live by the sea, and surf badly every day. But then there's nothing so invigorating as meeting inspiring and creative people. At the moment, I find the best switch-off is football. There are very few things in my life I have time for, but I do love watching Chelsea.'
Jane Neal
Tim Marlow is one of the five judges of the exhibtion Your Gallery @ theguardian, the first reader-curated contemporary art show. To find out more about this and to vote for the artists you'd like to see in the exhibition click here.
White Cube
48 Hoxton Square
London N1
Tel: +44 (0)207 930 5373
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