Professional development at Venice Biennale

Fifteen Australian curators and arts educators will participate in the world's most important forum for contemporary visual arts, the 2007 Venice Biennale, as part of an Australia Council for the Arts initiative.The curators and educators will take part in three professional development programs at the 2007 Venice Biennale - an emerging and established curators program; a pilot arts educators program; and the ongoing exhibition staff program.

'In addition to profiling three Australian artists with three projects at three different sites, the Australia Council is committed to creating other opportunities for the broader Australian visual arts sector,' said Karilyn Brown, executive director of market development at the Australia Council.

'Arts professionals will experience the latest contemporary art, be stimulated to think of new ways of presenting and teaching contemporary art and explore future collaborations with other contingents of international curators travelling to Venice,' Ms Brown said.

Australian Commissioner John Kaldor said that the curators programs built on the success of a similar initiative at the 2005 Biennale.

'Curators will play a vital ambassadorial role promoting contemporary Australian art during the professional preview of the "Olympics of the art world".  Each established curator will also mentor an emerging curator and together they will provide guided tours of the Venice Biennale for a key group of Australian supporters,' Mr Kaldor said. 

'Feedback from our 2005 program was very positive with twenty curators having the opportunity to see the latest in contemporary art, meet artists and curators from other parts of the world, initiate joint exhibition projects, experience the scale and significance of the Biennale and work closely with other Australian curators.'

'Four arts educators will visit the Biennale as part of a pilot program introduced for 2007 in recognition of the significant role art schools play in the development of the art world. This will further develop their knowledge and understanding of current trends in international visual arts practice. These insights will assist their teaching and expose their students to the work of key international artists,' Mr Kaldor said. 

The established curators are:

• Wayne Tunnicliffe, Art Gallery of NSW, NSW
• Craig Judd, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, TAS
• Jenepher Duncan, Art Gallery of WA, WA
• Kathryn Weir, Queensland Art Gallery, QLD
• Russell Storer, Museum of Contemporary Art, NSW
• Naomi Cass, Centre for Contemporary Photography, VIC

The emerging curators are:

• Jane Messenger, Art Gallery of SA, SA
• Jane Devery, National Gallery of Victoria, VIC
• Anne O’Hehir, National Gallery of Australia, ACT
• Hannah Mathews, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, WA
• Reuben Keehan, Artspace, NSW

The arts educators are:

• Dennis Del Favero, iCinema Research Centre, College of Fine Arts, University of NSW
• Dr Marie Sierra, Victorian College of the Arts, VIC
• Lesley Eastman, Department of Fine Arts, Monash University, VIC
• Matthew Perkins, Department of Multimedia and Digital Arts, Monash University, VIC

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts board of the Australia Council will also announce shortly support for four Indigenous curators to participate in the 2007 professional development program.

Support for the curators and educators programs is from the Australia Council and the participating organisation.

'We believe that this exciting initiative will substantially contribute to professional development at both the personal and institutional level with longer-term benefits for the whole Australian contemporary arts sector,' said Ms Brown.

The Australia Council will also seek nominations from State and Territory arts agencies for exhibition attendants to undertake exhibition installation, venue management and guided tours during the five-month exhibition. This program has run successfully in 2001, 2003 and 2005.

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Victoria McClelland