An initiative of the Legislative Assembly of the Region Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Development of the project and curatorial supervision: Julia Draganovic
Co-curator and production manager: Claudia Löffelholz.
The jury of the newly founded International Award for Participatory Art, consisting in Julia Draganovic, Rudolf Frieling, Alfredo Jaar, Bert Theis and, for the Legislative Assembly of the Region Emilia-Romagna, Luigi Benedetti, has selected the three finalists of the first edition of the prize. Mel Chin, Jeanne van Heeswijk and Pablo Helguera are invited to spend a research period in Bologna and develop a site specific project idea. The winning project, selected by the same jury, will be created in 2011. Beside the budget to accomplish the project, the winning artist receives an award of 15,000 Euros.
About the finalists:
Mel Chin (1951) has a broad range of approaches in his art, including works that require multi-disciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. Revival Field (1989-ongoing) has verified the use of plants to remove toxic metals from the soil. Chin also expands the catalytic possibilities of art into issues confronting entire cities (Operation Paydirt/Fundred Dollar Bill Project) and primetime popular television (In the Name of the Place), pioneering ways art can provoke greater social awareness, responsibility and action. His projects are consistent with a conceptual philosophy, which emphasizes the practice of art to include sculpting and bridging the natural and social ecology.
Jeanne van Heeswijk (1965) creates contexts for interaction in public spaces. Her art projects distinguish themselves through a strong social involvement. With her work, Van Heeswijk stimulates and develops cultural production and creates new public spaces or remodels existing ones. To achieve this, she works closely with artists, activists, designers, architects, software developers, governments and citizens. Projects include: Talking Trash (MCA Sydney), It Runs in the Neighborhood (Stavanger 2008), The Blue House (Amsterdam), Dwaallicht (Rotterdam), De Strip (Vlaardingen) and Face Your World (Amsterdam/Ohio). Van Heeswijk’s work has been featured in biennials such as those of Bushan, Taipei, Shanghai and Venice.
Pablo Helguera (Mexico City, 1971) is a New York based artist whose work focuses on history, pedagogy, sociolinguistics and anthropology in formats such as lectures, museum displays, performance and written fiction. His project The School of Panamerican Unrest, a nomadic think-tank, physically crossed the continent by car from Anchorage to Tierra del Fuego. He has exhibited widely and has been recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Creative Capital grant. He is the author of several books including The Pablo Helguera Manual of Contemporary Art Style, Theatrum Anatomicum (and other performance lectures), and What in the World.
About the International Award for Participatory Art:
The intention of the International Award for Participatory Art is to support an artistic production beyond market strategies, and to stimulate a source of inspiration for participatory techniques through a biennial call for entries.
Curators and international renowned artists such as Carlos Basualdo, Catherine David, Pablo Leòn de la Barra, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Tom Finkelpearl, Manray Hsu, Geeta Kapur, Enrico Lunghi, Nina Möntmann, Julian Navarro, Anne Pasternak, Cesare Pietroiusti, Gabi Scardi, Zara Stanhope, Aneta Szylak, Tom van Gestel, Per Gunnar Tverbakk and Catherine Wood nominated candidates to the prize who in the last five years had presented and created innovative projects and approaches regarding participation.
Beyond the finalists, the longlist of nominated artists for the first award included: Shaina Anand/CAMP, Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, Navjot Altaf, Zanny Begg, Meschac Gaba, Seamus Farrell, Marianne Heier, Grzegorz Klaman, Mingwei Lee, Otolith Group, Maria Papadimitriou, Marjetica Potrč, Ines den Rooijen and Kateřina Šedá.
The International Award for Participatory Art is a biennial project which started in 2010. The next call for entries involving a group of international experts as nominators is planned for 2012.
Information:
www.assemblealegislativa.regione.emilia-romagna.it/
www.larete-artprojects.net
email:
alrelistituzionali@regione.emilia-romagna.it
info@larete-artprojects.net
