Fundado por artistas en 1946, Skowhegan busca año tras año congregar a un grupo de 65 talentosos artistas para ofrecerles una atmósfera en la que se promueva la creación artística, la libre exploración, la interacción entre los participantes y su crecimiento personal y profesional, alejado de las expectativas del mercado y la academia. Entre los profesores reconocidos que dictan o han dictado clase se encuentran Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Tania Bruguera, Francesco Clemente, Peter Doig, David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Barbara Kruger, Guillermo Kuitca, Catherine Opie, Doris Salcedo, Richard Serra y James Turrell.

El proceso de inscripción de Skowhegan se realiza a través su página web www.skowheganart.org. Las personas interesadas deberán completar la aplicación antes del 1ro. de febrero de 2012. La selección será realizada por el comité de Skowhegan, que toma en cuenta tanto a artistas inscritos en programas de formación académica, como a aquellos que trabajen de manera independiente.

De ser seleccionado algún artista venezolano para la residencia, la CPPC le ofrecerá una beca para cubrir la matrícula, actividades y los gastos de viaje. De no resultar elegido un artista venezolano, la beca será otorgada a un artista latinoamericano de otra nacionalidad. Las personas interesadas en aplicar para Skowhegan que necesiten asesoría y apoyo para gestionar su aplicación, pueden comunicarse con Natalia Afanasiev, Coordinadora de Programación de la Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, a través del correo nafanasiev@coleccioncisneros.org o del teléfono (0212) 708-9689.

Acerca de la Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros

La Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) Establecida en los años 70 por Patricia Phelps de Cisneros y Gustavo A. Cisneros, la Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) es una de las principales iniciativas educativas y culturales de la Fundación Cisneros. Con sede en Nueva York y Caracas, la CPPC trabaja para promover una mayor apreciación de la diversidad, la sofisticación y variedad del arte de América Latina así como para fomentar la excelencia en la educación artística y la formación de profesionales del arte latinoamericano. Estos objetivos se logran a través de la conservación, estudio, presentación y promoción de la cultura material iberoamericana, desde objetos etnográficos hasta arte contemporáneo. Las actividades de la CPPC incluyen exposiciones, publicaciones, becas para la investigación y la producción artística, así como la implementación de la plataforma educativa Piensa en arte/Think Art.

Para más información acerca de la Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) y suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico, visite www.coleccioncisneros.org

For more than four decades, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros has fervently supported education and the arts, with a particular focus on Latin America. In the 1970s, along with her husband, Gustavo A. Cisneros, she founded the New York City and Caracas-based Fundación Cisneros. Its mission is to improve education throughout Latin America and to foster global awareness of the region’s heritage and many contributions to world culture.

The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC), the primary art-related program of the Fundación Cisneros, has been a critical component of Mrs. Cisneros’s efforts to enhance appreciation of the diversity, sophistication, and range of art from Latin America. It does so by promoting scholarship of Latin American art, excellence in visual arts education, and a high level of expertise among Latin American art professionals. Additionally, it works to preserve and study the material culture of the Hispanic world, ranging from the ethnographic to contemporary art. CPPC activities include exhibitions, loans, publications, support for scholarly research and artistic production, and the internationally recognized education platform Piensa en arte/Think Art.

Patricia Phelps de Cisneros supports a wide range of cultural institutions in the Americas and Europe. She is a Founding Member and Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Fund, and since 1992, she has been a Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, (MoMA). She is a Founding Patron of CIMAM, the International Committee of ICOM for Museums and Collections of Modern Art; an active member of the International Council and the Latin American Acquisitions Committee of Tate, London;  she is an International Trustee of the Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado, Madrid; belongs to the Association Centre Pompidou América Latina; the Berggruen Museum’s International Council; and the American Friends of the Fondation Beyeler, among others.

In recognition for her work to strengthen and promote education and the arts in Latin America, Mrs. Cisneros has received numerous awards which include, among others: the Leone d’Oro di San Marco, Venice; the Cross of the Legion of Honor, Republic of France; the Americas Society’s Gold Medal; the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Award for Outstanding Patronage of the Arts, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine; the Iris Foundation Award, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, New York and an Honoris Causa Degree in Fine Arts, from Wheaton College, Massachusetts.

The Fundación Cisneros/Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (FC/CPPC) announces the publication of CONVERSACIONES/CONVERSATIONS, a new series of bilingual books featuring unique in-depth conversations between Latin American artists and leading critics, curators, and art historians. Each illustrated volume presents a comprehensive first-hand account of the artist’s development accompanied by critical reflections by the authors.

Titles available for sale in better bookstores and through D.A.P. and Editorial R.M :

Carlos Cruz-Diez in conversation with/en conversación con Ariel Jiménez

Tomás Maldonado in conversation with/en conversación con María Amalia García

Jac Leirner in conversation with/en conversación con Adele Nelson

Jesús Soto in conversation/en conversación con Ariel Jiménez

Forthcoming titles:

Tania Bruguera/Claire Bishop
Waltercio Caldas / Ariel Jiménez
Luis Camnitzer/Alexander Alberro
Ferreira Gullar / Ariel Jiménez
Alfredo Jaar / Luis Pérez-Oramas
Gyula Kosice / Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro
Julio Le Parc/Alexander Alberro
Liliana Porter / Inés Katzenstein
Antonieta Sosa/Ariel Jiménez

Ariel Jiménez, curador jefe de la CPPC; dio inicio con una ponencia sobre la noción de una modernidad plural, seguido de María Elena Ramos, comunicadora social y curadora; quien habló acerca del universalismo constructivo de Joaquín Torres-García y la Escuela del Sur. Por su parte, Roldán Esteva-Grillet, profesor de la Escuela de Artes de la UCV; comenzó la tarde con una proyección del muralismo mexicano en el arte venezolano, y Diana Arismendi profesora y compositora venezolana, finalizó hablando sobre modernismo y nacionalismo en la música latinoamericana de inicios del siglo XX.

La apertura del segundo día estuvo a cargo de Félix Suazo, crítico de arte, investigador y curador, quien presentó una visión sobre el concepto de lo antropofágico, seguido del profesor y arquitecto Rafael Pereira, quien brindó al público una muestra de la arquitectura moderna en América Latina. La tarde abrió las puertas a una panorámica a la literatura moderna en Latinoamérica, a través de Rafael Castillo Zapata, investigador y profesor, y culminó con la ponencia de Ariel Jiménez, titulada “Abstracciones concretas: América futura”.

El propósito de este evento, fue estudiar los movimientos y problemas relacionados con las artes plásticas, la arquitectura, la música y la literatura moderna en Latinoamérica para generar un diálogo crítico y constructivo entre los ponentes y los espectadores, el cual fue sumamente fructífero para ambas partes.

Para el Dr. Rafael Romero, director emérito de la CPPC, estas “conferencias tienen como sentido incentivar esa discusión, la pregunta, la duda y establecer un intercambio entre quien tiene un poco más de conocimiento y alguien que lo está construyendo en ese momento y de esa manera acceder a un conocimiento aún más amplio”.

En opinión de  Renato Bermúdez, estudiante de Artes de la UCV “es una oportunidad muy importante el poder compartir con figuras que tienen una amplia experiencia en el campo de las artes y que te permiten lograr un contacto que no todos los días puedes tener en la Escuela con las clases tradicionales”.

La CPPC continuará trabajando arduamente en la promoción de la excelencia en la educación de las artes en Venezuela.

Ver: http://www.youtube.com/cisnerosrse#p/u/0/E6f7773KPP4

Author: Ariel Jiménez
Language: English and Spanish
Publication date: January 2012
ISBN: 9780982354469

CONVERSATIONS/CONVERSACIONES series

Jesús Soto in conversation with/en conversación con Ariel Jiménez, is the fourth title in the CONVERSACIONES/CONVERSATIONS series. The 198-page book presents dialogues between the renowned Venezuelan kinetic artist Jesús Soto (1923–2005), and art historian and FC/CPPC Chief Curator, Ariel Jiménez. Based on Conversaciones con Jesus Soto, originally published by the Fundación Cisneros in 2001 and 2005, this book has been expanded and revised and is now being published in Spanish and English. It also includes illustrations of key artworks by the artist.

Consisting of over nine years of interviews, the conversations provide a unique insight into Jesús Soto’s fascinating career. Distinguished for his involvement in the development of kinetic art in Paris in the 1950s and 60s, and his subsequent work in the geometric abstract movements in Venezuela, Soto is recognized today as one of the most important Latin American artists of the century.

Now available through D.A.P.

Application deadline: February 1, 2012

Application form and guidelines >>

The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Travel Award for Central America and the Caribbean, created by the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Independent Curators International (ICI), will support a contemporary art curator based anywhere in the world who wishes to travel to conduct research about art and cultural activities in Central America and the Caribbean. Intending to generate new collaborations with artists, curators, museums, cultural centers, and/or collections in the region, the Travel Award will support curatorial residencies, studio visits and archival research.

The first award will be given in honor of curator Virginia Pérez-Ratton (1950-2010) who was internationally renowned for her work with contemporary artists in Central America and the Caribbean, as well as her dedication to ensuring their practices be recognized beyond the region. Author of many influential publications and essays, and curator of numerous exhibitions and projects around the world, Pérez-Ratton was the founder of the art space, library, and foundation TEOR/éTica, and the director of the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo de Costa Rica.

The travel period can be anywhere between 3 weeks to 3 months, and take place between March and September 2012. The grant will cover costs of up to $10,000. Independent curators and those with institutional affiliations may apply. Applications from established and emerging curators (3+ years professional experience) will be considered. The award will support travel to either one or multiple locations in Central America and the Caribbean. A jury of professionals who live in, or have extensive knowledge of the region, will select the successful applicant.

Travel can be requested to the following countries:
* Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.
* Caribbean: The Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Cayman Islands); The Lesser Antilles (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, French Antilles- Guadeloupe, Martinique, France La Désirade, France Marie-Galante, France Les Saintes, Saint Barthélemy-, Saba, Sin Eustatius, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands, Venezuelan Islands); The Bahamas, Colombia (Caribbean region), and Turks and Caicos Islands.

TEOR/éTica 
In addition to the grant, TEOR/éTica has offered a 2 to 4 week residency to a curator selected from the shortlist of candidates. This opportunity is designed to introduce curators to the contemporary art scene of Costa Rica through studio visits, meeting arts professionals and visiting exhibitions. Airfare, accommodations and a travel stipend will be provided by TEOR/éTica, which will also organize a public program where the curator will present their past or current projects.

For further information, contact Sofia Olascoaga at sofia@curatorsintl.org or visit ICI’s website www.curatorsintl.org

CIMAM’s Annual Conference, Museums and the City, will take place in Ljubljana and Zagreb from the 14-16th of November. This year, the Getty Foundation and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, co-sponsored grants for 23 curators and scholars from emerging and developing economies to attend the conference. 

List of 2011 grant recipients >>

The museum directors and curators who attend the conference will also have the opportunity to visit ORINOCO, Indians of the Amazon Rainforest, an exhibition drawn from the Colección Orinoco (www.orinoco.org), one of the collections of the Fundación Cisneros/Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, which is on view now a the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.

The British magazine Art Review, in its November edition, published their yearly list of the 100 most important people in the art world, in which Patricia Phelps de Cisneros has been included at no.25,  15 places higher than her position last year. Amongst the 100 people listed, there were three Latin Americans: at no. 2 Julieta Aranda, a Mexican artist and cofounder of e-flux, at no. 25, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, founder of the Fundación Cisneros and Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, and at no. 76, Bernardo Paz, a Brazilian collector and founder of the Inhotim Cultural Institute.

November 23 and 24, 2011
Auditorium, Facultad de Humanidades y Educación, Universidad Central de Venezuela
Ciudad Universitaria, Los Chaguaramos, Caracas, Venezuela
9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
Free 

The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in conjunction with the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) present Discusiones: Declinaciones americanas de lo moderno [Discussions: American Manifestations of the Modern] a series of lectures that will discuss how Modern movements influenced different disciplines throughout Latin America, especially in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The lectures will discuss subjects relating to fine arts, architecture, music, and modern literature.

The speakers include: Diana Arismendi, Venezuelan professor and composer; Rafael Castillo Zapata, professor and researcher; Roldán Esteva-Grillet, professor at the Escuela de Artes at the Universidad Central de Venezuela; Ariel Jiménez, Chief Curator of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros; Rafael Pereira, professor and architect ; María Elena Ramos, curator and social communicator; and Félix Suazo, art critic, researcher and curator.

As part of a series of conferences titled Círculo de Arte y Mecenazgo [Art and Patronage Circle], organized by the Fundación de Arte y Mecenazgo in Madrid, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros gave a lecture titled “Colección privada, vocación pública” [Private collection, public mission] which addressed the role of private collectors and specifically the public mission of her private collection, the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. The speakers who have participated in this Circle in the past have been Chris Dercon, director of the Tate Modern, London and Glenn Lowry, director of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The event took place on October 13, 2011 at the Caixa Forum Madrid.