Artipedia - Arts News

The Cisneros Fontanals
Art Foundation

Amilcar Packer
Vídeo #15, 2008
Two channel video installation
25:21 min.
Courtesy the artist

THE CISNEROS FONTANALS ART FOUNDATION PRESENTS
NEW WORK BY RECIPIENTS OF THE 2008 GRANTS AND COMMISSIONS AWARDS IN ITS NEW EXHIBITION

Interrogating Systems: 2008 Grants and Commissions Exhibition

http://www.cifo.org

As we celebrate The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation’s five years of supporting emerging and mid-career artists from Latin America, CIFO presents Interrogating Systems, its 2008 Grants and Commissions Programs exhibition on view from April 25 to June 22 at CIFO Art Space. For the first time CIFO will present works by the award recipients of both programs in one single exhibition. The 10 emerging artists who were awarded grants are: Alejandro Almanza Pereda (Mexico), Johanna Calle (Colombia), Jonathan Harker (Ecuador/Panama), Mateo López (Colombia), Daniel Medina (Venezuela), Moris (Israel Meza Moreno) (Mexico), Amilcar Packer (Brazil), Luis Romero (Venezuela), Ícaro Zorbar (Colombia) and Francisco Valdés (Chile). The two mid career artists selected as recipients of the Commissions Award are Pablo Cardoso (Ecuador) and Federico Herrero (Costa Rica).

The exhibition is the culmination of a year-long process during which the Foundation’s international Advisory Committee and Board of the Directors identified the grant and commissions recipients, and the artists developed new work to share with audiences in Miami.

“This exhibition celebrates five years of CIFO’s commitment with contemporary artists in Latin America and our audiences in Miami for the creation of a new, open platform of participation, dialogue and production of cutting-edge art in the region,” said CIFO’s Chief Curator, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill.

Artists are nominated for the Grants Program by CIFO’s international Advisory Committee of leading artists, curators, and art professionals. The honorary committee invites submissions from emerging visual artists from Latin America who are working in various media and creating challenging and highly innovative work. CIFO’s selection committee announces the final winners after rigorous study of over 300 project proposals and the Board of Directors elects the final winners.

The diverse and complex themes in the exhibition are explored with experimental and exciting forms of drawing, installation, painting and video. The two mid-career Commission Program artists Pablo Cardoso and Federico Herrero present large scale painting installations; Cardoso on the ‘fictions’ related to representing landscape, and Herrero who proposes a dialectical exchange between the spheres of high art painting and popular painting as it is found in urban developments.

For the first time CIFO has invited two New World School of Arts students to collaborate with one of the award grant artists to complete a mural, an integral component of the installation.

As with all of CIFO’s Grants and Commissions Program exhibitions, the artists chosen do not respond to a curatorial structure. There is, nevertheless, a common practice of questioning, enquiry and transgression in all the artists participating in this show. Another remarkable element in common amongst these artists: the construction and deconstruction of a sort of cartography of the world, conceived from the perspective of a subjective and intimate experience; as political and comitted inhabitants of this same cartography. This practice may take the form of a subtle and complex contextual social critique such is the case of Johanna Calle, Jonathan Harker and Moris. While others like Federico Herrero, Mateo López, Amilcar Packer and Francisco Valdés examine and question established notions of normality and common sense. Pablo Cardoso, Daniel Medina and Luis Romero propose new forms of cartographies that embrace the paradoxes of representing reality. In addition Alejandro
Almanza Pereda and Ícaro Zorbar contemplate the precariousness and fragility of objects.

Now in their fifth year, CIFO’s Grants and Commissions programs provide critical funding and visibility for contemporary artists from Latin America, helping to broaden global appreciation of their work while challenging stereotypical notions of Latin American art. These programs and related exhibitions give artists from Latin America a new platform to show their work, and present them in the context of the international contemporary art community.

Related Exhibition Programming

Thursday, April 24, 2008
6-7 pm, A Cultural Spot Membership Launch and Gallery Walk with the Artists
7-10pm, Cocktail Reception (by invitation only)

Thursday, May 1, 2008, 7 pm
A Zeitgeist: Perspectives in Contemporary Art from Latin America
Panel discussion exploring the directions of today’s art production in the region featuring contemporary art curators: Cecilia Brunson (Chile), Elvis Fuentes (Cuba), Maria Iovino (Colombia), Guillermo Santamarina (Mexico) and moderated by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Chief Curator, CIFO

Saturday, May 10 and June 14, 2008, 7 pm
Wynwood Second Saturdays
CIFO Concert Series

Extended Exhibition Brochure

The exhibition brochure, including an introduction by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and essay by Santiago Olmo is available in the admissions desk.

***LAUNCHING OF CIFO’S MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM***

BECOME A MEMBER ON THE SPOT!
In five years CIFO has become a dynamic institution promoting cultural exchange through its exhibitions and events. As we celebrate this anniversary, we invite you to support the ongoing success of one of South Florida’s most vibrant art foundations. Sign up in person at CIFO Art Space or visit our website: http://www.cifo.org . You can also contact us by phone at 305-455-3380, by fax at 305-455-3334 and via email at member@cifo.org. CIFO has planned many exciting events for this coming year so do join us and become “a cultural spot member”!

CIFO Art Space
1018 North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33136
Thursday - Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm
http://www.cifo.org 305.455.3380

Media contact (English and Spanish):
Andrea Navarro, CIFO
305.455.3385, anavarro@cifo.org

Indian Rope Trick, Lee Welch

Curated by Mark Garry
9 May - 21 June 2008

David Beattie, Anita Delaney, Katherine Lamb, Claire Maguire, Lee Welch.
Draíocht presents Play, in celebration of Spréacha 2008, an exhibition that brings together specifically commissioned works by five Irish based artists that deal with the concept of play. The visual arts like many other creative processes use playful generative ideas where play and learning are fluidly integrated. While experiential learning (play) is an inherent part of the practices of a number of the artists in this show, each artist deals with this concept from a unique and individual perspective. The exhibition will also include a text by writer Tim Stott who will respond to the works in the exhibition and situate them within current discourse concerning gaming and play.

Mark Garry is a Dublin based artist, curator and writer (and occasional musician). Mark has exhibited extensively in Ireland and internationally and was one of the artists chosen to represent the Republic of Ireland at the Venice Biennial in 2005. He has organized a number of independent and institutionally supported curatorial projects, and was the visual arts curator with the Dublin Fringe Festival from 2000-2004.

David Beattie graduated in 2006 with an Masters in Visual Art Practices from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology. Recent exhibitions include Homemade, Dublin, Sculpture at Kells, Kilkenny, and The Important Thing Is That Tomorrow Is Not The Same As Yesterday, Pallas Contemporary Projects, Dublin .

Anita Delaney graduated with a BA in Fine Art in 2006 from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology and has recently shown work in the Platforma Video Festival in Athens and ISAFF Open Cinema Festival in St Petersburg, Russia.

Katharine Lamb studied at the National College of Art and Design, receiving a degree in Glass Design and later a Masters in Fine Art in 2007. She recently exhibited in Tulca Festival of Visual Arts, Galway and Galleri Barbara, Sunndalsora, Norway.

Claire Maguire graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Portland Row in 2007. This is her first exhibition outside of a college situation.

Lee Welch studied at the Academy of Art College, San Francisco and the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Recent exhibitions include all colours black (next to nothing), Ashford Gallery, Dublin (2007); Pleasures & Wayward Distractions, Broadstone XL Gallery, Dublin (2007); Holga, Monster Truck, Dublin (2007); falling somewhere in-between, Queen Street Studios Gallery, Belfast (2006).

NEW BERLIN FESTIVAL: WOOLOO.ORG

NEW BERLIN FESTIVAL: WOOLOO.ORG Call All Artists

Organized by WOOLOO.ORG and BERLINAUT

http://www.wooloo.org/festival

FESTIVAL FOR NEW MODES OF MOVING AND EXISTING
NEW LIFE BERLIN is a contemporary art festival dedicated to new modes of moving and existing.

Curated from the online art community WOOLOO.ORG, NEW LIFE BERLIN aims to connect the critical resources of a global network of artists with the physical geography of Berlin, as Europe’s pre-eminent centre for cultural production.

NEW LIFE BERLIN is taking place in Berlin from June 1-15, 2008 in collaboration with BERLINAUT.

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ARTISTS
The NEW LIFE BERLIN artistic program is focused on participation and is open to proposals from international artists

By inviting participation (while still retaining curatorial control), NEW LIFE BERLIN will investigate the much discussed ‘online community’ - How effective is this community? What binds this community? What governs it? In contrast to traditional art festivals and biennials, NEW LIFE BERLIN will not represent a set of cultural conclusions, but create a model for a fluid cultural landscape.

Artists working in all mediums are encouraged to apply for participation in the various NEW LIFE BERLIN projects. All applications must be made online at http://www.wooloo.org/festival

FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Participation in the NEW LIFE BERLIN artistic program is open to artists and writers and is structured along three main themes:

Transnational Communities. What do ‘community’ and ‘identity’ mean today? Presenting projects from both artistic and sociological starting points, NEW LIFE BERLIN will use group participation to explore real-life cultural mobility.

Artistic Social Responsibility. What is the relationship between cultural practitioners and corporate entities in the new millennium? How does contemporary cultural production relate to the concept of “Corporate Social Responsibility”?

Participation and Intervention. How do participatory arts practices affect the socio-cultural environments in which they take place? How and why can local audiences become involved in artists’ projects, and what does their involvement mean in terms of civic engagement and
social empowerment?

Please see http://www.wooloo.org/festival for additional information.

BERLINAUT NETWORKS
NEW LIFE BERLIN is part of the new BERLINAUT initiative that serves to advance transnational networks in Berlin and promote professional artistic collaboration.

BERLINAUT is established by the Danish Ministry of Culture in close collaboration with the Danish Arts Council and the Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin. The purpose of BERLINAUT is to create greater synergy between Danish, German and other international practicing artists in Berlin and support the development of new artistic networks.

CONTACT
Further information on NEW LIFE BERLIN and BERLINAUT can be found on the websites http://www.wooloo.org/festival (English) and http://www.berlinaut.dk (Danish and German).

For any questions about NEW LIFE BERLIN, please contact Katrine Clausen: contact@wooloo.org / phone: +49.(0)30.6676.3097
WOOLOO.ORG, Choriner Strasse 85, DE-10119 Berlin

For further information about BERLINAUT, please contact Tine Bredo: info@berlinaut.dk / phone: +49.(0)30.5050.2000
BERLINAUT, The Royal Danish Embassy, Rauchstrasse 1, DE-10787 Berlin