Artes Mundi 4 will open at National Museum Cardiff on 11 March 2010 but there is a lot of work to be done with the shortlisted artists for the UK’s biggest contemporary art prize before then. Tessa Jackson, founding Artistic Director of Artes Mundi has been keeping a note of the process, from selecting the shortlist to visiting them in their own countries and then deciding which of their works to show:
Saturday 8 August 2009 – Selection of Shortlist
Last night we had dinner in Swansea. Viktor Misiano, our Russian selector has been visiting the city to make a series of visits to artists’ studios. At the end of the day we met up with colleagues from the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and relaxed over dinner. This morning it was down to work. Our international selectors have just two days to choose the artists that will form the shortlist for Artes Mundi 4. Levent Çalikoğlu, Chief Curator at Istanbul Museum of Modern Art arrived last night from London where he too has been visiting artists.
We poured over catalogues and books as well as pulling up material online to view artwork by artists from more than 80 countries. A long shortlist has already been drawn up after nominations were received into our UWIC, Cardiff School of Art & Design office, over several months. Being able to see material directly from artists’ websites makes the process so much quicker, although we all agree, it can never replace seeing work first hand.
By this time tomorrow I shall have the names of those I shall correspond with over the next six months; I shall get to know them, sometimes their families, sometimes the ups and downs of their lives. Artes Mundi 1 was marked by one artist giving birth and another adopting a child – I wonder what we shall share in this time.
11 – 17 September 2009 – Working with Prize winner N S Harsha again
Installation week for Nations by Artes Mundi 3 Prize winner, the highly talented Indian artist N S Harsha. In 2008 we had discussed what work he would show as part of the exhibition Artes Mundi mounts by the shortlisted artists, at National Museum Cardiff. He proposed an extraordinary work called Nations – comprising 192 treadle sewing machines. The number represents the list of countries that make up the membership of the United Nations. The artist cleverly alludes to the globalisation of trade as well as the relationships between nations, by draping each sewing machine with a hand painted flag and then linking them together with a complex display of coloured threads.The work needed more space than it was possible to give him in Cardiff and so now we are fulfilling our joint ambition to install it in London, at Rivington Place as part of Iniva’s (Institute of International Visual Arts) programme.
Harsha wants to show during Frieze week (London’s contemporary art fair) and Artes Mundi has been keen to have a presence in London to promote what it does.
One day in and installing 192 sewing machines is easier than you think it might be!
8 October 2009 – Shortlist Announcement
Today we announced our Shortlist for Artes Mundi 4 - eight artists, although two work together (they are also husband and wife). One of the artists was able to be with us – Ergin Çavuşoğlu who is of Turkish descent but from Bulgaria and now living in London, sat modestly in the audience. Bank of America Merrill Lynch were also present. They have been very supportive, sponsoring us for the second time and in particular the international selection process. Viktor Misiano helped us announce the names and describe their work. He eloquently explained why so many artists today work in film and video. The immediacy of the medium enables artists to express something of their society, directly and often inexpensively. It also means it is possible to have their work included in exhibitions in countries far from where they live, without some of the difficulties of transportation, customs and bureaucracy. This time our artists come from Bulgaria, Russia, Taiwan, Albania, Israel, Peru and Krygyzstan. The only country we have worked with before is Taiwan. The audience for the announcement – journalists from art magazines, contemporary art curators and other supporters, responded well to the line-up. Let’s hope they cover us and start the advance publicity for the Exhibition and Prize!
27 November 2009 – Visit to Kyrgyzstan and Moscow
I’m sitting in Moscow airport – there seems to be some difficulty with my visa. The all-page stamp in my passport apparently says I’m a man! I took the precaution of getting a visa in advance but it was all in Cyrillic so unknowingly I had submitted myself to a sex change! The immigration officials do not seem to see the funny side. Well, it means the wait to get a new visa can be spent catching up on my occasional diary after an extraordinary few days. Three days ago I arrived in Bishkek at 3.30am. The capital city of Kyrgyzstan was almost completely dark, with little street lighting and understandably no traffic. Thankfully my hotel had sent a driver and car, not because it was one of those big smart hotels, but because it is familiar with foreigners arriving at odd hours of the morning. I was there to visit our two Kyrgyz artists, to see their work and to select what they might show in our forthcoming exhibition. They will need to apply for British visas, which has become more difficult, so I took the precaution of meeting them and talking things through.What amazing hospitality, what an extraordinary country – one of the Central Asian Republics just west of China. Not as wealthy as several of its neighbours who sell oil and natural gas, but it occupies a beautiful landscape of mountains and lakes with yurt punctuated steppes. It has always benefited from being on the Old Silk Road. Recently this route is once again economically vibrant. In fact the artists have made a work with the same title which we’ve decided to show.
Just as it was my first visit to their country, it will be their first to Wales and the UK. Roll on March when we start to return the hospitality and welcome all our shortlisted artists to Cardiff.
Artes Mundi 3, Wales’ International Visual Art Exhibition will take place at National Museum Cardiff 11 March – 6 June 2010 and the Artes Mundi Prize will be awarded in mid May.
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