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Michael Forbes, Untitled (2017), installation view Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017)

Michael Forbes, Untitled (2017), installation view Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017)

Diaspora Pavilion was a major exhibition which was conceived as a challenge to the prevalence of national pavilions within the structure of the Venice Biennale. It took its form from the coming-together of nineteen artists whose practices in many ways expand, complicate and even destabilise diaspora as a term, whilst highlighting the continued relevance that diaspora as a lived reality holds today.

Hew Locke, On the Tethys Sea (2017) and susan pui san lok, Untitled (Pavilion) (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Hew Locke, On the Tethys Sea (2017) and susan pui san lok, Untitled (Pavilion) (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Paul Maheke, The River Asked for a Kiss (to Pateh Sabally) (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Paul Maheke, The River Asked for a Kiss (to Pateh Sabally) (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Yinka Shonibare MBE, The British Library (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Yinka Shonibare MBE, The British Library (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Barbara Walker, Transcended (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Barbara Walker, Transcended (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Barby Asante, As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence: For Ama. For Aba. For Charlotte and Adoja (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Barby Asante, As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence: For Ama. For Aba. For Charlotte and Adoja (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Khadija Saye, Dwelling: in this space we breathe (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Khadija Saye, Dwelling: in this space we breathe (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Isaac Julien, The Leopard (Western Union: small boats) (2007), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Isaac Julien, The Leopard (Western Union: small boats) (2007), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Erika Tan, The ‘Forgotten’ Weaver (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Erika Tan, The ‘Forgotten’ Weaver (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Abbas Zahedi, MANNA: Machine Aided Neural Networking of Affect (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Kimathi Donkor, Portrait of the Artist Helping with Enquiries: 1984 (2005) and For Moses Had Married an Ethiopian Woman – Number 12:1 (2015) and Barby Asante, As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence: For Ama. For Aba. For Charlotte and Adoja (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Kimathi Donkor, Portrait of the Artist Helping with Enquiries: 1984 (2005) and For Moses Had Married an Ethiopian Woman – Number 12:1 (2015) and Barby Asante, As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence: For Ama. For Aba. For Charlotte and Adoja (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Ellen Gallagher & Edgar Cleijne, Osedax (2010), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Ellen Gallagher & Edgar Cleijne, Osedax (2010), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.
Abbas Zahedi, MANNA: Machine Aided Neural Networking of Affect (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice
Abbas Zahedi, MANNA: Machine Aided Neural Networking of Affect (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017). Image by Francesco Allegretto.

Diaspora Pavilion Closing Programme

Dates: 24 – 26 November 2017
Location: Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina, Venice 

Curated by: Jessica Taylor
Presented by: ICF in association with Arts Territory
Supported by: UAL, Arts Council England, Art Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies

To mark the closing of the Diaspora Pavilion exhibition in Venice, ICF produced a weekend-long closing programme of performances, screenings and talks.

Diaspora Pavilion artists Abbas Zahedi, Barby Asante and Libita Clayton presented new performances in response to their work in the Pavilion; Kimathi Donkor and Michael Forbes screened video works; and susan pui san lok and Erika Tan led audiences on guided sonia performances/tours. Contributions facilitated by Arts Territory (which is run by Beyond the Frame participant Kasia Sobucka) included performances by Griet Menschaert, Katarzyna Perlak and Justyna Scheuring, and a screening by Joanna Rajkowska.

ICF invited a group of UK-based curators to travel to Venice to attend the programme, including Ashleigh Barrice (Independent Curator), Renee Mussai (Autograph), Neus Miro (Wolverhampton Art Gallery), Elizabeth Scott (Guildhall Art Gallery) and Naomi Siderfin (Beaconsfield Art Gallery).

Libita Clayton, Untitled (2017), performance, Diaspora Pavilion Venice Closing Programme (2017).
Libita Clayton, Untitled (2017), performance, Diaspora Pavilion Venice Closing Programme (2017).
Abbas Zahedi, Me, Myself & A.I. (MANNA, a digital archive) (2017), performance lecture, Diaspora Pavilion Venice Closing Programme (2017).
Katarzyna Perlak, Vulnerable (2017), performance, Diaspora Pavilion Venice Closing Programme (2017).
Justyna Scheuring, Interval (2017), performance, Diaspora Pavilion Venice Closing Programme (2017).
Roundtable discussion, Diaspora Pavilion Closing Programme (2017).
Roundtable discussion, Diaspora Pavilion Closing Programme (2017).

Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton

Dates: 10 February – 29 April 2018
Location: Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton

Curated by: Jessica Taylor
Presented by: ICF in partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Supported by: UAL, Arts Council England, Art Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies 

Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton was a re-staging of the Diaspora Pavilion exhibition in Venice  curated by Jessica Taylor and presented at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in Wolverhampton. All of the emerging artists participating in the Diaspora Pavilion professional development programme were invited to exhibit in Wolverhampton. The seven artists who chose to include work in the West Midlands exhibition chose to do so with a mixture of existing and new works.

Wolverhampton Artists: Larry Achiampong, Kimathi Donkor, Michael Forbes, susan pui san lok, Paul Maheke, Erika Tan and Abbas Zahedi.

Kimathi Donkor, Toussaint L'Ouverture at Bedourete (2004), Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Kimathi Donkor, Toussaint L'Ouverture at Bedourete (2004), Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018). Image by Steph Hargreaves.
Abbas Zahedi, MANNA from below (2017), installation view Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018)
Abbas Zahedi, MANNA from below (2017), installation view Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018). Image by Steph Hargreaves.
Paul Maheke, The River Asked for a Kiss (to Pateh Sabally)(2017), installation view Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018). Image by Steph Hargreaves.
susan pui san lok, Golden (2017) Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018). Image by Steph Hargreaves.
Michael Forbes, Untitled (2018), installation view Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018). Image by Steph Hargreaves.
Larry Achiampong, Sundays Best (2016), installation view Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018). Image by Steph Hargreaves.