Hong Kong’s Para/Site Art Space Appoints Cosmin Costinas
Writer and Critic to Be the First Outset Curator of Contemporary Art
Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to contemporary visual art exhibitions, has named Cosmin Cosintas as its new Executive Director/Curator. His appointment is effective immediately. Mr. Costinas is Asia’s first Outset Curator of Contemporary Art. He relocates from his base in the Netherlands to Hong Kong this fall.Mr. Costinas says: “I am thrilled to be joining Para/Site at this exceptional moment of its history and look forward to bringing my international and regional experience in leading the institution through this process of growth and rethinking of its role on the local and world stages.”
Mr. Costinas is the outgoing curator at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands and also serves on the advisory board of Patterns/Erste Foundation, Vienna, Austria. Mr. Costinas was an editor of the magazines project of documenta 12 (2005–2007) and has curated, published and lectured extensively in Asia and Europe on the contemporary art of many regions.
“I believe we will consolidate Para/Site as an internationally relevant critical platform for contemporary art and as one of the core institutions designing a new, multi-centered global geography of art,” he says.
At Para/Site, Mr. Costinas will focus on extending the organization’s ambitious curatorial vision, a basis for the institution’s strong reputation as a champion of contemporary art in Hong Kong, since its inception as an artist-run space in 1996.
Mr. Costinas will become the first Outset Curator of Contemporary Art at Para/Site, and will play a central role in leading the organisation into its next phase of development, strengthening and forging long-term relationships with local and international arts institutions. Mr. Costinas will curate displays and exhibitions both at Para/Site’s Sheung Wan space, as well as at offsite and international venues.
Tim Li, Para/Site Board Chairman says: “Our belief in professional curatorship has become one of the most important core values of the organization. The appointment of Cosmin, a proficient curator with bold vision is a conscious decision made by the Board. He will play a central role in leading the organization to the next phase of development and we are thankful to Outset Contemporary Art Fund in supporting Para/Site Art Space making this important step for its growth.”
Yana Peel, Co-Director of Outset says: ” We are proud to be supporting Cosmin Costinas as the Outset Curator of Contemporary Art, as an extension of the foundation’s decade of work in bringing challenging contemporary art to the public. The directors and patrons of Outset hope that its model of private patronage for public art gains momentum in Hong Kong and that its commitment to Para/Site encourages further private support for one of the leading independent art spaces in Asia.”
Para/Site Art Space
www.para-site.org.hk
4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
For images, information and interview requests, please contact:
Stephanie Poon
+852 6209 7957, 2011@para-site.org.hk
Notes to Editors:
About Para/site Art Space (www.para-site.org.hk)
Para/Site Art Space is a non-profit art organization in Hong Kong. Para/Site produces, exhibits and communicates local and international contemporary art. Founded as an artist-run space 1996, Para/Site has been involved in various overseas exhibitions such as the Gwangju Biennale 2002 and the Venice Biennale 2003 and 2009.
About Outset Contemporary Art Fund (www.outset.org.uk)
Outset Contemporary Art Fund was founded in 2003 by Candida Gertler and Yana Peel as a philanthropic organisation dedicated to supporting new art. The not-for- profit foundation focuses on bringing private funding from its supporters and trustees to public museums, galleries and art projects. Addressing the need for flexible, early-stage funding within the public arena, Outset enables ambitious non-commercial ventures, acquisitions and publications.
About Cosmin Costinas
Cosmin Costinas is the outgoing curator at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands (since January 2009) and an advisory board member of Patterns/Erste Foundation, Vienna, Austria. At BAK, Mr. Costinas curated the exhibitions In the middle of things by Olga Chernysheva; I, the Undersigned by Rabih Mroue (toured throughout 2011 at Iniva – Institute of International Visual Arts, London, Lunds konsthall, Lund; tranzit+display, Prague; Wurttembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw); Expo Zero by Boris Charmatz; 1st Former West Congress (with Maria Hlavajova) and Surplus Value by Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor. Mr. Costinas co-curated (with Ekaterina Degot and David Riff) the 1st Ural Industrial Biennial, entitled Shockworkers of the Mobile Image, Ekaterinburg, 2010, and was an editor of documenta 12 Magazines, Kassel/Vienna in 2005–2007.
He co-authored the novel Philip (2007) and has contributed his writing to prestigious magazines, books, and exhibition catalogs across the world. Mr. Costinas has taught and lectured at different universities and art academies in Europe and China. Other recent curatorial projects include: After the Final Simplification of Ruins. Forms of historiography in given places, Centro Cultural Montehermoso Kulturunea, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2009; The Demon of Comparisons, Electric Palm Tree, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA) and University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 2009; Like an Attali Report, but different. On fiction and political imagination, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, 2008; and Textground, Display Gallery, Prague, 2004.
