Temporary venues programmed by Artquest for artists to meet, play and talk, in Venice and London.
The Artists Pavilion: 2019
Artquest and UAL’s Careers & Employability worked with a team of 12 students and curator Adelaide Bannerman. Together they programmes The Artists’ Pavilion at FOLD, London, a 24hr club and cultural space. The student/graduate team included Keanu Adorable, Dominika Chmara, Chelsea Dakwa, Tobi Alexandra Falade, Natalie Glover, Brianne Herbert, Louie Levinson, Andrew Maher, Melisa Makong’o, Petra Nogueira, Grishma Rai and Yasmin Walker.
SYNC(ed): Connected via creativity was a multidisciplinary programme for early career creatives to explore and investigate their individual practice(s). A diverse range of immersive and inclusive activities, including workshops, performances, exhibitions and panel discussions guided creatives to further develop and engage within competitive industries.
Events included:
- Exhibition: a collection of sound and photography installations from artists and creatives across specialisms, focusing on the individual’s ideas around their own forms of creative practice.
- Zine Workshop: Visualise 2020: a zine drop-in workshop to visualise hopes, plans and the future of your creative journey. This workshop led by Tobi Alexandra Falade and Dominika Chmara using collage, drawing and writing
- Talk: panel discussion chaired by Karli-Jade Fontiverio Hylton with guest speakers Aff&jam and Abiola Renee. Speakers expressed their personal insights on forging a career in the creative sector and sharing their creative journeys.
- Dance Showcase and After Party: live performance from The Syndicate in the format of a dance battle that invited audience judging. With sets from: Joshua Stephenson and Sebora Kamara.
The Artists Pavilion: 2017
In 2017 the Artists Pavilion returned to Venice to showed the newly commissioned work, Speak Robert by Italian-born London based artist Laura Malacart. Speak Robert developed a lecture/discussion led by the question ‘What do Victorian botanist Robert Fortune and film star Matt Damon have in common?’ The lecture was articulated via objects, props and sculptures, each of which operated as a prompt to a cyclical narrative from the perspective of history and global trade.
The Artists Pavilion was curated by Camilla Palestra and was accompanied by a programme of talks and events addressing issues of cultural identity within a global economy, dislocation and language. The events were curated in collaboration with then-students from UAL: Annie-Marie Akussah, Riah Charles, Rachel Hinman, Ciara McNeill, and Josh Simpson.
Events included:
- artist Laura Malacart in conversation with curator Gabi Scardi to discuss Speak Robert and the wider themes of her practice.
- a sign-language workshop with Gabriele Caia and Laura Volpato, University of Venice Ca’ Foscari. Participants were introduced to sign language, learning to use basic skills to interact with each other and becoming aware of language as an identity apparatus.
- students from UAL talking about their experience invigilating and developing a public programme, with colleagues involved in the Invigilator Plus programme for Cymru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice 2017. This event was run in partnership with Engage.
- a conversation with artist, writer and researcher susan pui san lok on the notion of translation and diaspora
The Artists Pavilion: 2013
In 2013 Artquest took over a cafe on the Via Garibaldi in Venice to make a refuge for artists to meet, plan their visit to the Venice Biennale, and find out about working internationally.
We worked with Axis and engage on this project to focus on artists – without whom the Biennale would not exist – during the exhibition preview days, shifting the focus from the glitzy parties and billionaire collectors for which it is increasingly known.
We also commissioned London-based screenprinter Erica Donovan to make a new work. Donovan transformed the window of The Artists Pavilion into the façade of an English beach hut, constructing and photographing a model that was scaled up on Contravision to fill the window. Her humorous intervention drew on the convention of national pavilions representing aspects of their culture, and responded to Venice from a particularly ‘British holiday’ perspective.
Events included talks by:
- the artist collective Blauer Hase, founded in Venice in 2007 by Mario Ciaramitaro, Riccardo Giacconi, Giulia Marzin, Daniele Zoico. Members reflected on the guerilla events and exhibitions that take place in Venice when the Biennale is not taking place.
- Ann Jones, curator of the Arts Council Collection, in conversation with Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, representing Macedonia at the 2013 Venice Biennale, about the place of the Biennale in an artists career and where such high-profile opportunities come from.