International course for curatorial studies Venice

Molvena, VI. June 23-24, 2015

On 23rd and 24th of June will take place the meeting between the students of the first edition of the International Course for Curators and the director of the Bonotto Foundation. The meeting will be developed in two moments: first a presentation of Fluxus, famous movement born in the sixties, then a visit to the headquarters of the Foundation in Molvena, near Vicenza, where is stored one of the most comprehensive Fluxus archive. The Foundation owns a large number of works of the Fluxus artists made over the years specifically for the spaces of their industrial unit and it has numerous testimonies: works, audio documents, videos, posters, books, magazines and editions of Fluxus artists and International verbal-visual research developed from the late Fifties.

The Course for Curators promoted by the A plus A gallery and organized by the School for Curatorial Studies after ten years of educational activities addressed to Italian students, this summer has assumed an international role. The course has brought together students from different countries all over the world, Brazil, United States, Canada, Turkey, the Philippines, South Africa and are accompanied on their studies by an equally cosmopolitan tutors. Among them: Nicola Lees, English curator, who works for the prestigious Freeze Art Fair in London and at the next International Biennial of Ljubljana, Filipa Ramos, Portuguese independent curator who collaborates with the Manifesta Journal.

Many Italian professionals take part in the program as well, including Patrizio Peterlini director of the Bonotto Foundation and expert of the Fluxus movement. The Foundation, its archive and collection represent the initial stage for the student’s training. Students should compare it with the timeless questions about how politics and social context can influence an artistic work and if there is the possibility that certain works may have an impact or effect on society. The Fluxus movement and their actions, performances and artistic interventions were involving the general public and could be considered the pioneer of a research developed by many contemporary artists.

The School for curators has established a collaboration with the Bonotto Foundation in order to introduce students to the activities and to the archive of the Fluxus movement. In fact, the collection not only preserves the works of the artists, but it also preserves important documents which are useful for reconstructing the history of these movements, full of connections, exchanges, influences, controversies and struggles. In some cases this material is commented on by the artists or accompanied by letters of historical critical commentary. The archive has also a rich documentations of works of concrete, visual and sound poetry.

The visit of the Foundation is an excellent opportunity to discover not only the original documentation of the work of Fluxus artists, but also to get to know the aims of Bonotto Foundation which is promoting and developing a new way of relating art, business and contemporary culture at international level. These are the three main pillars around which the life, activity and success of Luigi Bonotto, the Foundation’s creator and sponsor, has developed. The space identified to host Bonotto Foundation is the historic industrial building "Former Slaughterhouse" in Bassano del Grappa. It will become a "Multifunctional Cultural Center".
For the students of the course, the meeting with the Bonotto Foundation will be an important starting point, in order to develop the final curatorial project that will be realized at the end of September 2015 at the A plus A gallery in collaboration with the graphic designers Tankboys and their publishing house Automatic books.

THE SCHOOL FOR CURATORIAL STUDIES VENICE
was founded by Aurora Fonda in 2004 in Venice with the purpose of creating an open laboratory for the expression of creativity in the field of visual arts and the professions related to contemporary art. The “Course in Curatorial Practices and Contemporary Arts”, is articulated on both a practical and theoretical level towards an experimental approach, culminating in a final event organized by the participating students. The course is an ambitious and challenging project that aims to offer a vision of the complex world of contemporary art and offers a constructive contribution through the works produced by the School and its students.
www.corsocuratori.com