The Silent University
2013 Visible Award Ceremony
20–21 May 2014
Tuesday 20 May, 3–7:30pm
Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
3 Mansfield Rd
Oxford OX1 3TB
Wednesday 21 May, 6–9:30pm
The Showroom
63 Penfold St
London NW8 8PQ
On 14 December 2013 the second edition of the Visible Award—the first European prize to produce and sustain socially engaged artistic practices in a global context—was awarded to The Silent University, a knowledge exchange platform initiated by the artist Ahmet Öğüt and led by a group of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. The jury, chaired by Charles Esche—Director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and curator of the upcoming São Paolo Biennial—assessed the ten shortlisted projects and the criteria for their evaluation before an audience who gathered at the Van Abbemuseum to join the lively discussion and express their preference in the final round of votes. The invited members of the jury were Tania Bruguera (artist, New York), Jeanne Van Heeswijk (artist, Rotterdam), Koyo Kouoh (curator, Artistic Director of Raw Material Company, Dakar), Nikos Papastergiadis (University of Melbourne, Sydney), and Michelangelo Pistoletto (artist, and Artistic Director of Cittadellarte, Biella). The 25,000-euro prize will go towards the existing branches of the University in London, Stockholm, and Paris, and will work to strengthen the infrastructure through which The Silent University and its members operate.
The London branch of the Silent University will produce a two-day event, on 20 and 21 May, in collaboration with the Oxford Migration Studies Society and the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, and with the contemporary art space The Showroom, London. These two events will focus on drawing together members of the London Silent University in dialogue with artists, curators and theoreticians who are working on projects that deal with migration issues in the legal framework of Western democracies. The Visible Award, which in its mission is looking for art that “leave its own field and becomes visible as part of something else,” is proud to accompany The Silent University in its encounter with the academic realm outside of the space of art.
The 2013 Visible Award official ceremony will take place as part of the event at the University of Oxford, where Paolo Naldini and Andrea Zegna—representatives of Cittadellarte – Pistoletto Foundation and Fondazione Zegna—will present the award to Ahmet Öğüt. Öğüt, a Kurdish artist from Turkey, is the second recipient of the Visible Award after the Colombian collective Helena Producciones were awarded the prize in 2011 at a ceremony held at the Serpentine Gallery, London for the 8th edition of the Festival de Performance de Cali, which was realized with great success in the autumn of 2012.
The Silent University is an autonomous knowledge exchange platform led by refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. Silent University members have had a professional life and academic training in their home countries, but are unable to use their skills or professional training due to a variety of reasons related to their status. Acting as a group of lecturers, consultants and research fellows, each group is contributing to the programme in different ways, which include developing courses connected to their qualifications, specific research on key themes as well as personal reflections on what it means to be a refugee and asylum seeker. The Silent University wants to address and reactivate the knowledge of the participants and make the exchange process mutually beneficial. The Silent University’s aim is to challenge the idea of silence as a passive state, and explore its powerful potential through group reflection to make apparent the systemic failure and the loss of skills and knowledge experienced through the silencing process of people seeking asylum.The Silent University started in London in 2012 in collaboration with Delfina Foundation and Tate and was later hosted by The Showroom. It is currently being established in Sweden in collaboration with Tensta Konsthall and ABF Stockholm, and in France, at Le 116 in Montreuil, Greater Paris region.
The events are curated by The Silent University team in collaboration with Visible curators—Matteo Lucchetti and Judith Wielander—and Catherine L. Crooke (Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford) and Louise Shelley (The Showroom, London).
Lecturers: Behnam Al-Agzeer, Mulugeta Fikadu, Miguel Teixeira, Beatrice Kibolo, Brigitte Nongo
Consultants and contributors: Aafke Beukema toe Water, Carlos Cruz, Candela Delgado-Marín, Ali Kaviani, Uvindu Kurukulasuriya, Alina Müller, Emily Okito, Francesco Ponzo, Loveness Sibanda, Georgina Sleap, Geraldine Takundwa, Miriam Binsztok, Karin Waringo, Yegeta Zega.
Invited guests: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Aaron Cezar, Christine Eyene, Emily Fahlen, Jonas Staal.
For the full programme of the two days, please click here.
Both events are open to the public but seats are limited, so please RSVP here.
