Dates:
10 May 2017 - 29 Apr 2018
People:
Larry Achiampong, Kimathi Donkor, Ray Fiasco, Michael Forbes, Paul Maheke, Khadija Saye, Libita Sibungu, Erika Tan, Barbara Walker, Abbas Zahedi, susan pui san lok.
Location:
Venice, Wolverhampton
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.
Dates: 10 May – 28 November 2017
Location: Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina, Venice
Curated by: David A. Bailey and Jessica Taylor
Presented by: ICF in partnership with UAL
Supported by: Arts Council England, Bloomberg Philanthropies
The exhibition formed part of the 22-month professional development programme designed to deliver support and opportunities for career advancement and international showcasing for 12 emering, UK-based artists from diasporic backgrounds who were selected from a nation-wide open call. As part of the programme, the artists also engaged in mentoring from ten selected artists who had become leaders in their fields . During the length of the project, the emerging practitioners took part in group forum, field-trips, one-on-one mentoring sessions and group masterclasses. The 12 emerging artists and 8 of the mentors showcased their work in the Diaspora Pavilion exhibition in Venice in 2017 during the 57th Venice Biennale, a re-configuration of which was installed at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 2018 with a combination of new works and those shown in Venice by seven of the artists. The exhibition in Venice featured 33 new and existing artworks, many of which responded directly to the architecture of the Palazzo it was installed within. During the exhibition’s 7-month run, we welcomed over 50,000 visitors from around the world.
Venice Artists: Larry Achiampong, Libita Clayton, Kimathi Donkor, Ray Fiasco, Michael Forbes, susan pui san lok, Paul Maheke, Khadija Saye, Erika Tan, Barbara Walker and Abbas Zahedi
Mentors: Sokari Douglas Camp, Ellen Gallagher, Nicola Green, Joy Gregory, Isaac Julien, Dave Lewis, Hew Locke, Vong Phaophanit & Claire Oboussier and Yinka Shonibare MBE
The discourse of the exhibition was expanded upon through a performance by Barby Asante during the opening event on the 10th of May 2017, titled ‘As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence’, and a robust closing programme.
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.
Dates: 10 May – 28 November 2017
Location: Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina, Venice
Curated by: David A. Bailey and Jessica Taylor
Presented by: ICF in partnership with UAL
Supported by: Arts Council England, Bloomberg Philanthropies
The exhibition formed part of the 22-month professional development programme designed to deliver support and opportunities for career advancement and international showcasing for 12 emering, UK-based artists from diasporic backgrounds who were selected from a nation-wide open call. As part of the programme, the artists also engaged in mentoring from ten selected artists who had become leaders in their fields . During the length of the project, the emerging practitioners took part in group forum, field-trips, one-on-one mentoring sessions and group masterclasses. The 12 emerging artists and 8 of the mentors showcased their work in the Diaspora Pavilion exhibition in Venice in 2017 during the 57th Venice Biennale, a re-configuration of which was installed at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 2018 with a combination of new works and those shown in Venice by seven of the artists. The exhibition in Venice featured 33 new and existing artworks, many of which responded directly to the architecture of the Palazzo it was installed within. During the exhibition’s 7-month run, we welcomed over 50,000 visitors from around the world.
Venice Artists: Larry Achiampong, Libita Clayton, Kimathi Donkor, Ray Fiasco, Michael Forbes, susan pui san lok, Paul Maheke, Khadija Saye, Erika Tan, Barbara Walker and Abbas Zahedi
Mentors: Sokari Douglas Camp, Ellen Gallagher, Nicola Green, Joy Gregory, Isaac Julien, Dave Lewis, Hew Locke, Vong Phaophanit & Claire Oboussier and Yinka Shonibare MBE
The discourse of the exhibition was expanded upon through a performance by Barby Asante during the opening event on the 10th of May 2017, titled ‘As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence’, and a robust closing programme.
Dates:
10 May 2017 - 29 Apr 2018
Location:
Venice, Wolverhampton
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).
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.
