PUBLIC PROGRAM | ESTE CHARLA I When Collecting isn't enough
Charlotte Laubard, Curator, (France)
Veronica Cordeiro, Curator, (Uruguay/Brazil)
in conversation with Afshan Almassi, Collector (Iran)
Rosa Sandretto, Collector (Italy)
When collecting isn’t enough... The art world has seen a rise of supporting activities led by private art collectors – from active involvement in Museum boards and the development of acquisitions strategies. At the same time, private companies and corporations have created foundations to sponsor a diversity of artistic and cultural enterprises. How do some of these initiatives work, what are the motivations and exchanges; why, today, is collecting simply not enough?
Afshan Almassi Born in Iran in 1961, Almassi moved to Paris in 1978, where she undertook studies of architecture at the School of Fine Arts, as well as of history of art. Between 1987 and 1994, she conceived and realized different architectural and urban projects in the public and private sphere. Focusing in the following years on architectural and interior design projects, she started to sustain and collect contemporary art and design. Her involvement as an art patron started in Buenos Aires where she helped a young artist to publish his monograph. She also bought an important artwork that he produced and donated it to the MAMCO, the Geneva museum of contemporary art. She has now funded different publications of artists.
Maria Rosa Sandretto Born in Turin and graduated in Architecture, between 1980s and 1990s she directed Rocca6 Gallery in Turin specialized in historical Italian design of the 50s and 70s. As interior designer she directed the transformation in luxury hotels of Palazzo Niccolini in Florence and Palazzo Barsanti in Pietrasanta, where most of her collection of Italian artists is on permanent show; from 2000 she is the art director and curator of the collection of the Mexican artists at Dreams Tulum Hotel in Mexico. From 1997 through 2009 she was part of the Board of Directors of PS1-MOMA in New York, promoting and sponsoring the shows of important Italian artists. She is now a member of the Board of Directors of KW in Berlin, of Clocktower in New York, President of the Pietro Consagra Archive in Milan and sits in the jury of the Henraux Foundation Award for sculpture. Rosa Sandretto just launched and founded a new project in Patagonia, the Residencia San Martin de los Andes. Coordinated by Movil, an independent organization based in Buenos Aires, it aim is to offer a space for reflexion, investigation and work to two female artists every year, in January and February, in the Argentine Patagonia.
Charlotte Laubard (France) is Art History and Theory professor and researcher at Geneva University of Art and Design since 2013. She directed CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux (2006-2013), was the consultant for Viktor Pinchuk Foundation in Kiev (2005-06), assistant curator at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea of Turin (2002-05) and curatorial associate at PS1 COntemporary Art Centre in New York (1999-2000). She has also created several projects as an independent curator and currently develops the Nouveaux Commanditaires in Switzerland.
Veronica Cordeiro (Brazil-Uruguay) is the curator of the Photography Centre of Montevideo (CdF) since January 2013, where she commissioned new work by Rosângela Rennó (2011), Dias & Riedweg (2013), among others. Co-curator of the Uruguay Pavilion at the 55th Biennale di Venezia (2013), recent curatorships include residencies and survey exhibitions of Cao Guimarães, Tamara Cubas, Ernesto Vila. With the support of ICI-NY in 2011 she founded Surcontexto, an organization devoted to researching curating in trans-disciplinary and ethnographic contexts. She writes regularly for catalogues and magazines and participates in the Jury of prestigious prizes in Uruguay, Argentina, Canada and Holland.