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After Things Can Change Quickly, Radical Intention continues its residency program with Milano open house inviting Italian and international curators to visit the area of Milan - legendarily considered to be "inhospitable" - through a custom-built tour between the artists' houses and studios. In return of the artists’ hospitality, curators will present their work publicly and leave a comment on their experience in the form of text, article or essay.

Thanks to a collaboration with vessel, Radical Intention will host Arzu Yayıntaş and Pieter Vermeulen from the 6th to the 8th of June. The curators will present their curatorial backgrounds in a conversation with curator Aria Spinelli, a member of Radical Intention.

Arzu Yayıntaş is a curator based in Antakya and Istanbul. Since 2002 she has co-curated several international exhibitions in public space and non-profit spaces in several cities in Turkey and in Rotterdam and Sofia. She taught contemporary art history as a part-time lecturer at the Yeditepe University for two years.

Besides contributing to the Geniş Açı Magazine as a writer, she took part in the editorial board of the magazine for five years. After working as the associate director at Proje4L-Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art, she worked as the art exhibition manager of the 11th International Istanbul Biennial.

Recently she curated the 2nd International Antakya Biennial, “Thank You for Your Understanding”. She is one of the founder members of the AGUSAD (Antakya Contemporary Art Association) which is an initiative based in Antakya dedicated to supporting the cultural dialogue within the region. She is one of the curators of the 30th Today’s Artist exhibition which will take place in July 2011 in Akbank Sanat, İstanbul.

Pieter Vermeulen is a philosopher, writer and independent curator based in Antwerp, Belgium. He is currently holding a position as a guest professor in philosophy and philosophy of art at University College Ghent – Faculty of Fine Arts and Faculty of Music. His educational background lies in philosophy and cultural studies (MA). After his studies, he started working as a producer-manager, coordinator and art critic. As both a curator and theorist, Pieter contributed to projects such as the new media exhibitions Fantastic Illusions(MOCA Shanghai/Buda Kortrijk) and Resonance (Bund18/World Expo 2010 – Belgian Pavilion, Shanghai), and participated in ICI’s Curatorial Intensive in New York City.He moderated and co-/organized different international conferences, e.g. on Double Take by Johan Grimonprez, Tickle Your Catastrophe! and The Documentary Real (Vooruit, Ghent), and has articles published in many exhibition catalogs.

Radical Intention #2 – Milano Open House
Arzu Yayıntaş & Pieter Vermeulen
Curators in Residency: 6 – 8 June 2011

Presentation:

7th of June 7 pm
C/0 Libreria Puertos De libros
Via Antonio Pollaiolo 5, Milano

REPORT

vessel visited Milan from the 6th to the 8th of June, hosted by Aria Spinelli from Radical Intention. vessel guest residency curators Arzu Yayintas and Pieter Vermuelen, as well as Viviana Checchia, vessel curator, made four (good5: dscn2482.jpg text: studio visits), allowing for the opportunity to draw connections between the Milanese art scene and the Apulia region.

On the 6th of June, vessel visited Sanja Lasic. She provided insight into the role of transitory migration between various Eastern and Western European countries as the impetus for her work. Additionally, vessel visited Alessandro Nassiri, who showed examples of his installation work and their accessible conceptual matter that serves to provoke public dialogue.

On the 7th of June, vessel visited artists in residence at Viafarini, Fausto Falchi and Hannah Heilmann. Both artists shared the common background of originally taking part in collective groups to create art and eventually independently branching out to pursue their own work. Falchi, originally part of the Borosotto collective, gave a presentation consisting of mechanical “inventions”; interactive pieces that reflect the relationship between man and the machine. Heilmann, originally part of the Ingen Frygt collective, showed pictorial and performance pieces, which reflected on the nature of disbanding and recreating established social constructions.

That night there was a Radical Intention conversation with the curators, with Alessandro Nassiri, Angelo Castucci, Fausto Falchi, Hannah Heilmann, Aria Spinelli and Viviana Checchia in attendance. The main focus of the discussion was the topic of redefinition. Consideration was given to redefining the curatorial relationship to the public as well as public spaces. Arzu and Pieter shared their professional experiences with public art, which lead the conclusion that in order for art to be accessible to a broad audience, it is necessary to reconsider curatorial responsibility. Arzu underlined the importance of materially invisible projects to spark new ideas to resist oppression, while Pieter stressed shifting the authority of political power from the state to the citizens.

Power cannot be given directly to the people, but it was agreed that a balance needs to be reached in order for art to be participatory. Solutions for this include the incorporation of previous historically socially acceptable practices in order to provide a new context. In this way, a sense of community can be fostered through shared work. It was additionally agreed that the most successful public art is when individuals feel that they have a personal stake in the piece. The issue of the gentrification of the city into a “museum city” was also a major consideration; how does the curator preserve the authenticity of the city?

Additional questions concerned the authority of “the institution”; is public art truly useful for the general public, or is the idea of art for society a façade, merely a tool to be used only for the art world? The discussion also touched on the issue of the trend for public works of art to be ephemeral. Is there a significant societal change after the temporary artwork is disbanded?

On the 8th of June, vessel visited with Alterazoni Video, a collective working with public art in order to achieve social, political, and economic change and reform. Alterazioni video discussed their project Incompiuto Siciliano , which proposed unification of Italy through the shared architectural style of incompletion after the Second World War.

The main goal of vessel is to address the topic of redefinition of both the role of the curator as well as the relationship between Eastern and Western Europe. Milan was key in enhancing this knowledge, not simply as a way to comparatively know the Milanese art scene, but also to achieve insight into the changing art world through curatorial and artist exchanges. Through artist visits and curatorial discussions, it was agreed that the needs of the public need to be under greater consideration in order to create a well-rounded dialogue.