Newfoundland-based artists Peter Wilkins and Will Gill at the entrance to Galleria Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice in June 2013 during Newfoundland and Labrador's first presentation at the Venice Biennale. A call for proposals has now been issued for 2015. Photo: Roberto Echer.
Chris Clarke—a Newfoundland-born, Memorial University–trained curator and critic now based in the Ireland—has been selected as curator for Newfoundland and Labrador’s entry into the 2015 Venice Biennale.
“It’s a privilege to be invited to curate the Newfoundland and Labrador at Venice exhibition for the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015,” Clarke, who is currently senior curator at Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, Ireland, said in a release. “I very much look forward to contributing to this exciting project.”
Since graduating from MUN with a BFA in 1996, Clarke has curated a variety of exhibitions in Ireland and the UK including “Mixtapes” and “Game On: Re‐Newing Media Art.” He has also worked as a critic, contributing to Art Monthly, Photography & Culture, Source and VAN.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s representation at the biennale—organized by the not-for-profit Terra Nova Art Foundation—kicked off in 2013 with a presentation of Will Gill and Peter Wilkins at Galleria Ca’Rezzonico. Curated by Mireille Eagan and Bruce Johnson, it was an official collateral project of the biennale.
Now, other Newfoundland and Labrador–connected artists will have the opportunity to show their work in Venice. A just-released call for proposals asks for “established individual artists and/or artist collectives to deliver an ambitious and innovative project that will run during the biennale in 2015, at the Galleria Ca’Rezzonico.”
The call for proposals notes that the artists need not be based in Newfoundland and Labrador but must “demonstrate a strong connection to the Newfoundland and Labrador arts community and the infrastructure that supports it.”
Budget for the project is proposed at $160,000. Deadline for proposals is July 7 at 5 p.m. Newfoundland Time, and a selections committee will review the proposals and make the final choice to be announced August 28. More details are available on the Terra Nova Art Foundation’s website.
This article was corrected on May 27, 2014. The original copy misspelled the last name of Mireille Eagan as “Egan.”
