Thu 22 October, 11 am – 4 pm

Frame Visual Art Finland in collaboration with the Curatorial Program for Research (CPR) and HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme, present a one-day seminar on curatorial practices. With presentations by eleven international curators visiting Helsinki, the seminar allows insight into the curators’ current projects from around the globe, while shedding light on the rich spectrum of curatorial approaches and modes of research informing the field of contemporary art today.

The curators participating in the seminar include Yameli Mera, who is currently in a one-month HICP Helsinki International Curatorial Programme residency hosted by HIAP and Frame. The Curatorial Program for Research (CPR) brings to Helsinki ten curators: Nico Anklam, Tainá Azeredo, Emily Butler, Qu Chang, Kevser Güler, Jonathan Lahey Dronsfield, Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, Dorota Michalska, Nerea Ubieto and Lia Zaaloff.

The Curatorial Program for Research curators were selected to participate in the first CPR research program focused on Eastern and Northern Europe. The curators visit Helsinki and Tallinn, getting to know the local scenes, artists and institutions, and carrying out on-site research. Local partners in Helsinki are HIAP, Checkpoint Helsinki and Frame. CPR is founded by practicing curators, the former director of UNTITLED. Art Fair Carmen Ferreyra and curator Aura Seikkula.

HICP Helsinki International Curatorial Programme offers annually four residencies, hosted by HIAP and Frame, and provides curators with an opportunity to carry out research and work on international curatorial projects while building contacts with art practitioners and cultural organisations in Finland.

Seminar program

Thu 22 October, 11 am – 4 pm
Design Museum (Korkeavuorenkatu 23, Helsinki), seminar room

11 am – 12 pm: Introduction by Head of Programme Taru Elfving, Frame, followed by a presentation by curator Yameli Mera, HICP

12 pm – 1 pm: Presentations by Curatorial Program for Research participants

1 pm – 2 pm: Lunch break

2 pm – 4 pm: Presentations by Curatorial Program for Research participants

The event is open for all, no registration needed. Welcome!

Biographies

HICP Helsinki International Art Programme:

Yameli Mera (Mexico) is currently the curator at Sala de Arte Público Sigueiros, Mexico City. Mera is the former General Coordinator and Researcher of Coleccíon Isabel y Agustín Coppel, where she worked on e.g. Blockbuster: Cinema for Exhibitions and Mexico: Expected / Unexpected. Independently Mera has taken part in exhibitions at the University Museum for Contemporary Art and the National Museum of Art. Recently she has curated Matrulla. Landscape and Memory and Prey and Predator with Beatriz Santiago Muñoz and Moris. In 2014 Mera became a collaborator of ICI Independent Curators International. Her areas of interest and expertise focus on contemporary art and film, with special emphasis on image studies, as well as political art. As a researcher she has contributed to several publications on art criticism and theory. Mera completed her degree in art history at the Universidad Iberoamericana and received a Masters in Art History, specializing in contemporary art, from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

CPR 2015: Eastern and Northern Europe, Participating Curators:

Qu Chang (China, 1988) is an independent curator graduated with MA from La grande école des métiers de la culture et du marché de l’art (IESA) in Paris. Qu is also a long-term contributing writer for Art China Magazine and 99 Art.

Dorota Michalska (Poland, 1988) is an independent curator, art critic and writer. She completed CuratorLab, a nine months curatorial research fellowship at Konstfack College University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden led by Joanna Warsza.

Emily Butler (UK, 1982) is a curator, writer and translator. She currently works at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. Previously, Butler worked in the Visual Arts Department at the British Council on international touring exhibitions.

Nerea Ubieto (Spain, 1984) is an independent curator. She has a master degree in art market and higher studies in Curatorial Management and Art Criticism. Ubieto currently writes for Input Magazine and is developing her own artistic platform The Art Link Maker

Jonathan Lahey Dronsfield (UK) is an artist, philosopher and curator. He has written about the use and abuse of Philosophy by Art, and has taught at the University of London Southampton and at the Royal College of Art.

Kevser Guler (Turkey, 1983) is an independent curator. Her practice includes conceiving researches, exhibitions and texts specializing in contemporary art and its dialogue with philosophy and critical theory. Guler worked at the Istanbul Biennial between 2007–14.

Lia Zaaloff (US, 1982) is an independent curator. She is currently completing a graduate degree in the Liberal Studies Program at The Graduate Center in the City University of New York (CUNY). She served as Assistant Curator, Photography at the Rubin Museum of Art, and worked as curator at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

Nico Anklam (Germany, 1981) studied Art History, Aesthetics and Cultural Sciences in London, Berlin and as a Fulbright scholar in New York. He taught 20th Century Art at the Berlin Perspectives Programme of Humboldt University and is currently a guest lecturer in Art and Theory at UdK Berlin.

Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk (Netherlands, 1988) works as a curator and a writer. He holds a BA in Art History and Visual Culture from the University of Utrecht, and a MA in Curating from the London Metropolitan University. In 2012 Lekkerkerk founded The Office for Curating and is currently a Curatorial Fellow at TENT in Rotterdam.

Tainá Azeredo (Brazil, 1983) graduated in Dance and Performing Arts (PUC-SP) and holds a MA in Art History, Curatorial and Critical Studies (FASM). In 2009 she founded Casa Tomada, an independent art space in São Paulo where she currently works as a director and curator