Curated for You—Highlights from ICI’s 40th Anniversary Benefit & Auction
From left to right: María del Carmen Carrión, Director of Research and Public Programs, ICI; Renaud Proch, Director, ICI (image courtesy of Yuko Torihara); and Karen Patterson, Associate Curator, John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
For 40 years, Independent Curators International(ICI) has been connecting artists and curators with the institutions and resources they need to realize groundbreaking exhibitions and related projects. This unique and vast network has been instrumental to the global arts community, paired with top-notch education programs in countries around the world.
On Wednesday, November 18, 2015, ICI will will a host a special Benefit and Auction to celebrate its 40th Anniversary. We’ve gathered personal highlights from this year’s auction from ICI’s Executive Director Renaud Proch, ICI’s Director of Research and Public Programs María del Carmen Carrión, and past ICI collaborator Karen Patterson, Associate Curator at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Renaud Proch: “This year's auction is a complete treat! There are so many great works, by Glenn Kaino, Sarah Braman, B. Wurtz, and by artists who have been involved with ICI for decades like Tina Barney, Dan Graham, and Laurie Simmons.”
RP (cont.): “Robert Longo, who was in an ICI exhibition in the early 1980s, has given us a unique commissioned portrait of a child, a rare chance to turn a cherished family memory into work of art. The strength of this year's auction might be a result of the great support that artists have chosen to show for our 40th Anniversary. It's a special milestone. The fact that artists have continued to be so generous with ICI is a great sign of trust—and artists' trust in ICI's future is the best 40th anniversary gift I can imagine.”
María del Carmen Carrión: “Elena Damiani works with archival images and raw materials, addressing the resonance between extracting, collaging, and collecting. Her pieces often build evocative references to archeological diggings, mining sites, and museum storage spaces. The juxtaposition of material and image generates fissures that relate to extra-discursive incidents that imprint both memory and affect on the physical body.”
Elena Damiani is currently exhibiting at the 56th Venice Biennale, closing November 22, 2015.
Karen Patterson: “In her mixed-media installations and jacquard photo tapestries, Ebony G. Patterson explores visibility, in terms of class, gender, race and the media. Her highly adorned, almost illuminated images and objects are intended to attract and seduce the viewers, challenging them to look closer.”
“‘Bling funerals’ are an increasingly popular gesture in Kingston’s working-class communities and have developed to become powerful declarations of individuality. Yet because this high performative practice stems from areas of lower socioeconomic standing, the Jamaican church has considered banning the ritual. In Invisible Presence - Bling Memories (2014), Patterson validates this community practice by leading a procession of 50 replica caskets to be carried by her and local volunteers. Each replica was hand embellished to pay respects to someone who has passed on.”
Ebony G. Patterson is currently exhibiting at the Museum of Art and Design, New York, closing April 3, 2016.
