Tilting Axis 2

The inaugural edition of the Caribbean-driven visual arts conference Tilting Axis took place in 2015 at The Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc. in Barbados. This initial encounter saw thirty-two arts professionals spanning the Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanic and Dutch Caribbean convene for the first time on Caribbean soil alongside a number of international participants. Building on this, Tilting Axis 2 took place at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) on February 19 and 20, 2016, with more than double the previous number of attendees coming together to discuss this year’s topic ‘Caribbean Strategies’.

Tilting Axis was originally conceived by Fresh Milk and ARC Magazine, who have continued to collaborate with core partners Res Artis and PAMM for the second iteration in Miami. As a city that not only aspires to be a vital art centre in the 21st century, but that also acts as a hub between the Caribbean and the global North with a large diasporic population and, in many ways, a shared history, Miami was a strategic location for the conference to travel to.

The participants of Tilting Axis 2

Introductory remarks at Tilting Axis 2

Veerle Poupeye’s presentation about the National Gallery of Jamaica

Marsha Pearce leading the discussion

Group discussions at Tilting Axis 2

Donette Francis, Rene Morales and Gean Moreno in a group discussion at Tilting Axis 2.

Deborah Anzinger, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Tumelo Mosaka, Deb Dormody and Blue Curry in a group discussion at Tilting Axis 2

Adler Guerrier presenting about his art practice at Tilting Axis 2

Blue Curry’s studio at Cannonball studios, Miami. Photo courtesy of the artist

Pablo León de la Barra giving his key note address

Read the full review of Tilting Axis 2 here.

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Tilting Axis 1.5

At the invitation of Videobrasil’s director, Solange Farkas, the core organizations of Tilting Axis — The Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc, ARC Magazine and the Pérez Art Museum Miami — had the opportunity to participate in the Public Programme at the 19th Sesc_Festival in Sao Paulo on October 8, 2015.

Conceived as a mid point meeting, Tilting Axis 1.5 acted as a discursive moment to continue circulating the collective’s core methodologies. Goals included addressing the Caribbean’s peripheral position within larger global art conversations, generating awareness and sensitizing cultural practitioners in the Global South to Tilting Axis.

L-R: Solange Farkas (Director of Videobrasil), Maria Elena Ortiz (Assistant Curator at PAMM), N’Gone Fall (Founding member of GawLab), Annalee Davis (Founding Director of Fresh Milk) and Holly Bynoe (Director and Editor-in-Chief of ARC Magazine). All images courtesy of Videobrasil

The panelists at TA 1.5

Solange Farkas

Annalee Davis

Holly Bynoe

N’Gone Fall

Maria Elena Ortiz

Read the full Tilting Axis 1.5 Report here.

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Tilting Axis 1

The inaugural two-day conference ‘Tilting Axis: Within and Beyond the Caribbean – Shifting Models of Sustainability and Connectivity’ was held at The Fresh Milk Art Platform, Barbados on February 27-28, 2015. This meeting aimed to promote greater conversations and engagement between artists and professionals working within artist-led initiatives across the wider Caribbean region, build and redefine historical relationships with those in the North, and establish open dialogue with active networks emerging in the Global South.

Organized by Fresh Milk, ARC Inc., Res Artis and Pérez Art Museum Miami, Tilting Axis saw the founders/directors of several of the region’s artist-led initiatives coming together to engage in face to face conversations, along with a number of professionals from outside the region interested in working with Caribbean based initiatives.

The objectives of the two-day engagement were to:

● Create opportunities for more integration, awareness, and collaborations to take place across the Caribbean and between international foundations, cultural organizations, and practitioners;
● Enable local, regional, and international artist networks to reflect on lessons learned and share best practices, methodologies, and ideas;
● Develop an action plan for continued collaboration and for moving the Caribbean out of a peripheral position in the global art conversation.

Mark King, Untitled Grid Fields, paint on concrete, 2015. Image by Llanor Alleyne.

L-R: Mario A. Caro (President of Res Artis), Annalee Davis (Founding Director of Fresh Milk), Tobias Ostrander (Chief Curator at the Pérez Art Museum Miami) and Holly Bynoe (Co-founder & Editor-in-chief of ARC Magazine).

Participants of the Tilting Axis 2015 conference. All photographs by Sammy Davis.

Tilting Axis 2015

Tilting Axis 2015

Directing Organizations: ARC Inc., and Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc.
Associate Partners: Res Artis and Pérez Art Museum Miami
Supporting Partners: Arts and Sport Promotion Fund Committee (Barbados), the Davidoff Art Initiative, the British Council and the Prince Claus Fund.

Read the full reports from the participants in the inaugural Tilting Axis conference here.