Artists sought for new curation initiative / Golden Thread move / AIB shortlist / favela uplift / Beck's over (Monday 12 March 2006)
Mike Nelson seeks artists
The two Arts Councils in Ireland have scored a significant coup by securing Mike Nelson as the curator of a significant new initiative. Nelson is widely acclaimed for his often ramshackle-appearing installations that challenge, among other things, First World / Third World perceptions.
Nelson will curate two artists, selected by open submission, for shows at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin and the Void Gallery in Derry. The aim of the initiative is "to promote the visibility of artists from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, encourage greater cross-border mobility and provide an opportunity to work closely with an invited curator." The Curated Visual Arts Award is valued at 56k euro (to be split between the two artits?) is "designed to enable the selected artists to produce pivotal work that will advance their own practice.
Nelson will "provide support to the selected artists throughout the creative and exhibition processes... The call for Submissions proposes that artists consider the qualities of each of the galleries and respond accordingly considering everything from the obvious to the obscure."
The submission deadline is 30 March; the selected artists will be announced in May 2007. For more information, go to: www.artscouncil.ie
or www.artscouncil-ni.orgor contact Anne Rice at + 353 1 618 0279
or anne.rice@artscouncil.ie.
GTG move
Belfast's very successful Golden Thread Gallery is shifting to new
premises on Great Patrick Street. "Across the road from the cathedral
quarter, we'll be easy to get to, and with larger premises and even a
café planned, there'll be more reasons than ever to visit us,"
according to the press release. It continues,
The
big launch date is set for Friday the 13th April 2007, so come and join
us for the premiere of not just the new space, but also our latest
exhibition Things we may have missed.
The exhibition will feature work of up to sixty artists who have
contributed to the gallery since its inception in 1998. The exhibition
promises to be a real insight into the gallerys history - it's not to
be missed!
GTG's new address: Golden Thread Gallery, Switch Room, 84 - 94 Great Patrick Street, Belfast
BT1 2LU; 02890 352333; info@gtgallery.fsnet.co.uk;
www.gtgallery.fsnet.co.uk.
AIB announces short-list for the 2007 AIB Prize
The shortlist has been announced (5 March) for the the AIB Prize, an annual award for "artists of promise" in Ireland. The award is an artist-venue link-up: the venue proposes having an exhibition of a particular artist's work. This year's shortlisted artists and their nominating venues are:
Diana
Copperwhite - West Cork Arts Centre
Sean Lynch - Galway Arts Centre
Alan Phelan - Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Jennifer Trouton - Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown
The panel of adjudicators was Aidan Dunne, art critic; Gemma Tipton, writer and critic on contemporary art and architecture; and Frances Ruane, AIB art adviser. According to the press release, "The winner of The AIB Prize will receive 20,000 euro for the purpose of creating new work for an exhibition and for the publication of an accompanying catalogue. The three runners up will each receive an award of 1,500 euro." The winner will be announced in the RHA, Dublin, on 11 April.
Art lifts favela
compiled
by Cristina Martín de Vidales and Marguerite White
Here's a community-based art project that seems to work. Vila Cruzeiros, like many favelas in Rio de Janeiro, is inaccessible and dangerous, riddled with drugs, crime and gang warfare. Enter two young Dutch artists, Jeroen Koolahaas, a graphic designer, and Dre Urhahn, an art director. They arrived last year in Rio de Janeiro with a project in mind: to paint an entire hillside favela. Now, the inhabitants of Vila Cruzeiros are the main protagonists of this project, which is planned and executed with their collaboration.
The project experienced some complications when the favela became the centre of a serious police vs gang war, which made it almost impossible to get inside the community. Once the project was finished the image of the favela apparently changed; now the hillside depicts a huge 'canvas' visible from prominent places in the city centre.
The work has apparently inspired great optimism in the favela: "All people, young and old, come to give us props and tell them how proud they are to have this landmark in their community. Even the armed-to-the-theeth drugtraffickers, who post right around the corner, start giving us thumbs up."
Not everyone is so positive, but as the creators explain, "the project has should become a platform for all kinds of creative incentives to uplift the favela and its inhabitants."
Sources: arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2009351,00.html;
www.favelapainting.com/
A more musical Beck's
compiled
by Marguerite White and Cristina Martín de Vidales
The Beck's Future Prize, open to any modern artist, was until recently the richest contemporary-art prize in Britain, valued at £65.000. The contest was established seven years ago with the aim of becoming a new barometer for emerging talent in the visual arts; a platform from which artists could develop their work in the future. It was launched as the Institute of Contemporary Art's rival competition to the Turner Prize, which has existed since 1984.
Among the first winners were Roderick Buchanan, Tim Stoner and Saskia Olde Wolbers.
To say the least, the Prize has had its critics. Take, for example, this from Brian Sewell, quoted on the website thisislondon: "It's been one of the most wretched prizes in arts sponsorship history. Beck's Futures has been a going-nowhere exercise that hasn't done Beck's any good... The ICA is a tart who will let anyone f**k them for the right amount of money." Or there's Jonathan Jones in the Guardian: "[The Prize] has proved it has no intellectual integrity and no judgment. This year's winner confirms that the prize conceived as a rival to the Turner is a clumsy Frankenstein mistake which should be allowed to die in a dark corner."
This year, Beck's has been taken by new management who seem to want to drop art in favour of music.
Sources: arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,1169,1471238,00.html; www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/article-23383853-details/No%20future%20for%20Beck's%20art%20prize/article.do
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