Tag: Tilting Axis Fellowship

Jury Report: Tilting Axis Fellowship 2023

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In Fall 2019, Het Nieuwe Instituut joined forces with Tilting Axis to offer a Fellowship to one mid-career or established applicant based in the Caribbean. Barbadian multi-disciplinary designer and architect Israel Mapp has been selected as the recipient of the Tilting Axis /Het Nieuwe Instituut Fellowship 2023. Israel Mapp will begin the Fellowship at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam starting February 2023 and will continue his research and activities through July 2023.

See the announcement on the Tilting Axis website here.

Barbadian multi-disciplinary designer and architect Israel Mapp

Procedure

The fellowship is supported by Het Nieuwe Instituut as lead partner and host, and will include collaborations with its partners, the Amsterdam Museum, De Appel, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Kunstinstituut Melly. By the deadline for the application on May 27th 2022, Het Nieuwe Instituut and Tilting Axis received 9 eligible entries in response to the open call, from eight territories in the Caribbean region: Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Suriname, The Bahamas, and Trinidad & Tobago.

All the proposals were reviewed by a committee composed of the following members:

  • Aric Chen, Artistic and General Director, Het Nieuwe Instituut

  • Setareh Noorani, Researcher, Het Nieuwe Instituut

  • Iyawo (Holly Bynoe Young), Sour Grass and Tilting Axis co-founder

  • Annalee Davis, Visual Artist, Founding Director of Fresh Milk, Sour Grass and Tilting Axis co-founder

  • Jessy Koeiman, Curator Collective Learning, Kunstinstituut Melly

  • Mark Raymond, Director of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa

  • Huib Haye van der Werf (Interim Director), Director at De Appel

  • Inez van der Scheer, Junior Curator of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam Museum

  • Charl Landvreugd, Head of Research and Curatorial Practice, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Submissions and interviews were evaluated based on their ability to present a clear proposal outlining their thinking, projected investigation, and how the fellowship would expand and enrich their practice. Four candidates were shortlisted and invited to an online interview with members of the selection committee on 22nd June 2022. Following the interviews, the committee selected Israel Mapp as the recipient of the 2023 fellowship. The other shortlisted candidates were Dayana Trigo Rames (Cuba), Jorge Pablo Lima (Cuba) and Miguel E. Keerveld (Suriname).

General Comments

The members of the jury were impressed by the spirited and dynamic nature of the projects, as well as the ambition of the applicants. The set of applications showed a variety of working methodologies and media, ranging from installations and architectural designs to the role of curating as an artist and various forms of social, political and symbolic public engagements and activism.

The jury was pleased to have received applications from applicants based across three linguistic territories of the Caribbean. Submissions responded to urgent themes including the climate emergency, colonialism, social consciousness, material cultures and architectural innovations found in nature, histories and literature.

The shortlisted projects investigated the nature of pathology in design, knowledge building within collective and co-creative practices, the role of architecture within ecology and embodied knowledge along with exploring non-extractive material considerations in the era of climate emergency.

Comments on the Selected Proposal

Israel Mapp’s proposal “Above Oceans” was supported unanimously during the interview process because of its considerations around material cultures and their connection to tangible and intangible heritages. The clarity expressed along with his poetic, empathetic and human-led explorations made his exchange with the jury memorable. In addition, Mapp was able to expand on his idea of creative placemaking in a meaningful way connecting several of his unique interests to the strengths of each partner institution.

This opportunity to engage in more intimate and nuanced ways with partner institutions is something that is very attractive to the legacy of the Fellowship. His inquiries and curiosities deal with the very real eco-challenges that are being faced by every Caribbean nation. “Above Oceans” points to material culture as praxis and identity and the urgency around forming community and institutional support using generative, open and humanist value systems.

His ambition includes embracing new learning through the introduction of labs which will create a growing reference library and continued opportunity to develop resources that can bring more wholeness and unification to the creative landscape of Barbados through exchange and co-ideation/co-creation. Collectively the jury was thrilled by Mapp’s interest in reworking clay, fibres from native flora, and limestone found in colonial architectural forms, and in re-presenting these materials in ways that will engage in an ethos connected to a regenerative circular design, that will involve creating more adaptive spaces that embody unlearning and transformation for these urgent times.

On receiving the news that he had been awarded the fellowship, Mapp shared this statement with the jury:

“Above Oceans is not the beginning, it is a point along an exploratory journey for me recognizing and acknowledging how landscape influences Barbadian identity. I truly enjoyed developing the “Above Oceans” proposal for the Tilting Axis Fellowship. It was a process of introspection and discovery working towards an alignment of love, joy, my talents and interests, and the needs of community.

I am equally thankful for the Tilting Axis | Het Nieuwe Instituut Team for taking the time and effort to consider, analyze and inquire with interest about Above Oceans. Receipt of critical feedback from one’s peers has always been an empowering experience for me. It often provides multiple and diverse perspectives that one would have not considered, drills down to the details that matter and ultimately adds more value and depth to the initial idea. Good design comes about when good questions are presented. This process with The Jury was insightful, and inspired me to review, refine and develop the proposal with the view to implement in Barbados. They asked great questions.

I am extremely grateful for and accept this gift and opportunity to continue and expand the work I have been doing in Barbados to which the fellowship will provide. It is also one of meaningful exchange, exploration and discovery; experiences that I value and contribute greatly to my work. My practice calls for experimentation and the exploration of the possibilities; working in the creative environment of Rotterdam will be an excellent observatory and laboratory.

The next six months will be critical in the planning of the fellowship beginning 2023. In addition to having access to the resources of Het Nieuwe Instituut, the partnering organisations and building new relationships, I look forward to taking opportunities for research and development, and collaborations towards approaches in architectural-product design routed innately in Barbadian material culture and a parallel track on understanding the development and operations of creative clusters. I look forward to sharing the fellowship and its fruits with my peers across the ocean.”

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Above is a selection of images from Mapp’s work which features:

  • Architecture: Urban Renewal Project Union at Beckwith Creative Cluster, Bridgetown.

  • Product Design Homewares: CartoGraphs – surface design of recovered Sukabumi stone tiles and Hot Tea clay tea pot product development.

  • Product Design Fashion: Flotsam+ Jetsam : Rescued Ocean Objects Reimagines and Hot Tea.

Jury Report: Tilting Axis Fellowship 2021/2022

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In autumn 2019, Het Nieuwe Instituut joined forces with Tilting Axis to offer a fellowship to an applicant based in the Caribbean. Cuban architect Fernando Martirena has been selected as the recipient of the Tilting Axis /Het Nieuwe Instituut Fellowship 2021/2022. Together with Anadis González, Martirena founded the architecture office Infraestudio in Havana in 2016.

See the announcement on the Tilting Axis website here.

Procedure

The fellowship is supported by Het Nieuwe Instituut as lead partner and host, and will include collaborations with the Amsterdam Museum, De Appel, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Kunstinstituut Melly. Between the announcement of the open call on 25 May and the deadline on 4 July 2021, Het Nieuwe Instituut and Tilting Axis received 10 eligible entries in response to the open call, from six territories in the Caribbean region: Aruba, Cuba, Guadeloupe, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas and Suriname.

All the proposals were reviewed by a committee composed of the following members:

  • Holly Bynoe, independent curator and Tilting Axis co-founder
  • Aric Chen, Artistic and General Director, Het Nieuwe Instituut
  • Annalee Davis, visual artist, Founding Director/Fresh Milk, and Tilting Axis co-founder
  • Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Director, and Jessy Koeiman, Curator Collective Learning, Kunstinstituut Melly
  • Charl Landvreugd, Head of Research and Curatorial Practice, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
  • Imara Limon, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Amsterdam Museum
  • Marina Otero Verzier, Director of Research, Het Nieuwe Instituut
  • Mark Raymond, Director of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and the current Plym Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (spring 2021)
  • Monika Szewczyk, Director, De Appel

Proposals were evaluated on the basis of their engagement with the theme of the open call, and clear interest in the areas of research/practice and organisations highlighted in it. Four candidates were shortlisted and invited to an online interview with members of the selection committee on 15 July 2021. Following the interviews, the committee selected Fernando Martirena as the recipient of this fellowship. The other shortlisted candidates were A k u z u r u (Trinidad and Tobago), Sonja Dumas (Trinidad and Tobago) and Dr Ian Bethell Bennett (The Bahamas).

General Comments

The members of the jury were impressed by the relevance and timeliness of the projects, as well as the expertise and ambition of the applicants. The set of applications showed a variety of working methodologies and media, ranging from installations and architectural designs to performances, workshops, archival research and forms of public engagement and activism. The projects represent the creativity and power of the work developed by artists and intellectuals in the Caribbean.

The jury was pleased to have received applications from applicants based in all four linguistic territories of the Caribbean. Submissions responded to urgent themes including climate change, colonialism, de/colonisation, architecture found in nature, ritual, myth and paradise.

Further Reflections on the Open Call

Following this second edition of the Tilting Axis Fellowship, Het Nieuwe Instituut and Tilting Axis, together with the partners, will consider how to further develop these collaborations across and beyond the Caribbean, acknowledging not only the inhabitants of these territories but also their diasporic communities and their histories.

Comments on the Selected Proposal

Cuba-based Fernando Martirena will use the fellowship to expand on building a body of knowledge on the different manifestations of what he terms the Architecture of Cruelty, and find those examples that react against it.

The jury felt that Martirena’s proposal was relevant and coherent and responded to the call in compelling ways. His submission articulated the prohibitive bureaucracy and difficult situation in Cuba in relation to architecture, and a desire to reflect on his immediate environment from afar. Furthermore, the jury was intrigued by his interest in working on the political character of architecture and in considering how to care for and think differently about the local challenges architects face in Cuba, as well as in other regions in the Caribbean and beyond, by mobilising the forms of collaboration, solidarity and engagement that the fellowship offers. His ambition includes the creation of a database, the production of a suite of collages, models, craft books and texts, and a deepening of his relationship with the archives so as to develop another understanding of the political implications of architecture and social-spatial practices, resonating with the fellowship partners’ interest in opening up their archival collections and spaces to greater scrutiny and interpretation.

Untitled (The Universal Art Museum of Cuba and the 5 Star Hotel Manzana Kempinski) by Infraestudio, 2020.

On receiving the news that he had been awarded the fellowship, Martirena shared this statement with the jury:

“Each city, each landscape, has its own political and social conflicts, increasingly similar everywhere. Architecture responds to latent conflicts, once they have already been resolved or forgotten: it always comes too late. It is the last representation of the economic and political power games of a territory. Inspired by the Theatre of Cruelty (The First Manifesto), by Antonin Artaud, my research seeks to build a body of knowledge on the different manifestations of cruelty in contemporary architecture and find those examples that react against it. Thus, I will illustrate dystopian but possible fantasies from a poetic and personal point of view, taking as examples the city of Havana and the political figure of the architect as a servant.

I will use the fantastic opportunity provided by the Tilting Axis Fellowship to investigate the current condition of my city and the many intersections that exist between architecture and politics around the world.

Once this is done, I hope to be able to make a mise-en-scène that not only talks about architecture, but makes architecture speak for itself. This will be possible thanks to the access to libraries, archives and interviews, and to the study time provided by the institutions associated with the fellowship. The final result will be a series of ideas whose documentation will be inspired by the ‘bookworks’ that Ulises Carrión made in Amsterdam in the 1970s. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity that I consider as both a gift and a challenge.” 

Biography

Fernando Martirena (b.1992) currently works and lives in Havana. He graduated from the Technical University of Havana, where he gave lectures on the theory and criticism of architecture. Martirena co-founded the art and architecture studio Infraestudio together with Anadis González. Infraestudio is a transdisciplinary practice interested in space, politics, the minimum and fiction. In addition to architectural projects, Martirena has produced books, collages, installations, urban research and editorial projects. His work seeks to illustrate the poetics of a minor architecture focused on ideas rather than forms. Currently, the studio has five buildings under construction, including the Line 508 Contemporary Art Center. Infraestudio has participated in exhibitions in the last two iterations of the Havana Biennial, the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, the Gorría Gallery Workshop and Cuban Art Factory.

Fernando is also Coordinator of the Cuban Architecture Studies Group. Being one of the protagonists of contemporary Cuban architecture, he has thoroughly studied its political and social condition, and has published critical texts about it in Arquine, Rialta Magazine and No Country Magazine. Other examples of his positioning towards national architecture have been the curatorship of two group exhibitions featuring installations, performances and digital art. He has also been one of the main activists and leaders of the Campaign for the Legalisation of Cuban Independent Architecture, which up to the present day remains illegal.

Fresh Milk’s 2020 Highlights

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Thank you for your continued support of Fresh Milk!

While it’s taken us a little while to share our reflections on the year 2020, we’re pleased to celebrate what we have been able to achieve in spite of the challenges that cultural workers everywhere have had to navigate.

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Still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus has made our already precarious cultural sectors here in Barbados and across the wider Caribbean even more fragile. We have been challenged to find new ways to nurture one another, and Fresh Milk has participated in collaborations that have been beneficial to many artists in the region.

To learn more about the work we have done including CONTESTED DESIRES – an ongoing partnership with artist initiatives in the UK, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and Italy; working with Le Centre d’Art in Haiti on a residency exchange programme; the most recent Tilting Axis Fellowship in partnership with Het Nieuwe Instituut in the Netherlands; or the pan-Caribbean CATAPULT project in partnership with The American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ) and Kingston Creative, see more below!

For 2021, Fresh Milk remains committed to delivering virtual editions of the programmes Caribbean Linked and Transoceanic Visual Exchange (TVE). These online platforms will unite artists across linguistic territories in the region, as well as expand our work with colleagues in Latin America.

If you would like to support artists participating in Caribbean Linked and TVE, or would like to lend support to the management of these various projects, go ahead and click on the donate button below! It’s very easy to support us and the artists we work with by making a donation through this PayPal link. Your contributions make our programmes possible, and gifts of any size are welcome.

While our artist residency programme is on pause now that we have honoured all previous commitments, we look forward to sharing an open call for a local project with three exciting components, which will take place right here in Barbados, in the parish of St. George.

Stay tuned for more details!

  If you’d like to work with us to build your art collection by acquiring work by local and Caribbean artists, please get in touch.

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We would like to thank everyone who worked with us, supported us, and express gratitude to the many artists who we have had the privilege of working with across the Caribbean during this very demanding year.

We are pleased to be able to share our 2020 reflections with you all and hope you enjoy this newsletter.

 

Open Call: Tilting Axis Fellowship 2020

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Het Nieuwe Instituut has joined forces with Tilting Axis to offer a Fellowship to one mid-career to established applicant based in the Caribbean. The Fellowship is supported by Het Nieuwe Instituut as lead partner and host, and will include collaborations with the Amsterdam Museum, De Appel, The Black Archives and Witte de With.

For Whom?

Mid-career and established researchers, artists, designers, writers, curators, or cultural producers based in the Caribbean region interested in building new links with cultural institutions in the Netherlands, and who have an interest in developing their practice around themes related to architecture, spatial practice, design or digital culture.

Goals

  • Develop, stimulate and visualise curatorial, design and artistic realities coming from the Caribbean region.
  • Enhance knowledge exchange and collaboration with a cross-section of Dutch cultural institutions.
  • Provide a variety of platforms for professional experience.
  • Produce critical knowledge on inter-disciplinary exchanges as well as visual culture.
  • Offer practical support and travel to the Netherlands for an extended Fellowship.
  • Engage with hosting and collaborating institutions to interrogate and challenge their institutional structures and methodologies.
  • Utilise the existing Tilting Axis network

About the Position

This Fellowship focuses on applicants living and working within the Caribbean region and is both research and practice-led. The selected applicant will be based in Rotterdam at the Het Nieuwe Instituut and will have access to other partner cultural institutions in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. A total stipend of 12,000 Euros will be granted by Het Nieuwe Instituut to cover living expenses and one round-trip airfare from any country within the Caribbean to the Netherlands. Accommodation will be provided for a period of six months for a maximum of 800 Euros per month. Stipends may be subject to a withholding tax. Specific details about the position will be discussed with the selected applicant.

 

Knowledge Exchange

The Fellowship will be developed through independent research; individual support and interaction with the Research Department team at Het Nieuwe Instituut; monthly meetings to discuss thematic and methodological aspects of the project; and diverse collaborations with partner institutions.

This Fellowship includes access to and collaborations with:

Het Nieuwe Instituut: The fellow has daily access to the facilities of Het Nieuwe Instituut, including the library, archives, exhibitions, workspaces and presentation spaces. Other resources may be available in concert with other departments of Het Nieuwe Instituut as well as its ongoing institutional partnerships.

The Amsterdam Museum: The fellow has access to the facilities at the locations of the Amsterdam Museum, including the library, archives, exhibitions, workspaces and presentation spaces. The team is willing to have in-depth conversations with the fellow and encourage proposals by the fellow for a (public) event such as a talk, screening or a different form of presenting their work and research.

De Appel: The fellow will have daily access to the facilities of De Appel, including the library, archive, exhibition, workspaces and presentation spaces. The archive is specialised in performance arts and contains books, magazines, drawings, letters and ephemera. The team and Curatorial Programme participants are also ready to welcome the fellow and provide contacts, feedback and are happy for the fellow to learn from new voices coming from De Appel.

The Black Archives: The fellow may choose to present the progress of their research during a public talk at The Black Archives in Amsterdam. While hosting a public talk, the fellow will be able to engage with our audience about Black and Caribbean histories.

Witte de With: The fellow may choose to participate in a dedicated public programme at Witte de With to present existing or ongoing research on contemporary visual arts or cultural developments in the present. Alternatively, the programme could be organised as a private session, in the form of a think tank, professional networking event, or similar, with the goal of discussing the fellow’s research topic or share information collected to date. Whatever format is chosen, this programme would be organised within the frame of the institution’s collective learning initiative.

 

Application

Applicants for the Fellowship are invited to develop an independent proposal outlining a clear interest in the areas of research/practice and organisations highlighted. The proposal should be content driven and can be based on already existing research or offer new projects. The fellow is not expected to produce an outcome or finished artwork, yet will be encouraged to publicly present the ongoing research interests whilst in the Netherlands. The research will also be disseminated on an ongoing basis via Het Nieuwe Instituut and partner institution’s website, newsletter or other publications.

The fellow will be invited to:

  • Make a series of presentations in Rotterdam & Amsterdam at host and partner institutions on their research/practice;
  • Produce a monthly text/sound/video/photo essay (6 essays in total). The series of monthly texts will be posted on the websites of Tilting Axis and Het Nieuwe Instituut, with links to the partner institutions;
  • Research could lead to an installation, exhibition or further events at partner institutions during or after the Fellowship;
  • make a presentation at the Tilting Axis meeting in 2020. The aim is to support the fellow’s travel to Tilting Axis 6, hosted by the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas in Nassau.

A final report on the Fellowship experience is required.

 

Format and Submission Requirements

The Open Call will be available from 16 September, 2019, with a deadline for submission on 17 November, 2019. The call is open to individuals. Applications should be submitted in a single PDF file of maximum 10MB. In order to be considered, proposals should include the following information:

● A self-introduction in which applicants articulate the relation between their interests and the hosting/partner institutions. Departing from a curatorial, research or design and artistic ambition, we expect to see a statement of intent of maximum 1000 words. This statement should explain the applicant’s research focus, and its possible connection to architecture, design or digital culture, as well and the interest in the anchor and partner institutions.

● Relevant documentation of previous work, and/or links to audio or video files (maximum 10 minutes) in the application PDF.

● Indication of availability to take up the Fellowship from April – September 2020

Proposals should be written in English and applicants must have a working knowledge of English. While we understand that English proficiency may vary or that English may not be the applicant’s first or primary language, unfortunately, we are not able to offer translation support at this time. Applicants with specific questions are encouraged to contact ta-fellowship@hetnieuweinstituut.nl about the availability of any support service.

Proposals can be submitted to: ta-fellowship@hetnieuweinstituut.nl and copied to tiltingaxis@gmail.com with the subject ‘Tilting Axis Fellowship 2020 | The Netherlands’

Selection Process

Proposals will be considered by an international committee consisting of the Tilting Axis and Het Nieuwe Instituut teams along with representatives from the partner institutions including curators, academics, and museum professionals. The review committee includes:

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a phone interview with members of the selection committee.

 

About the Organisers

Tilting Axis

Tilting Axis is a roving meeting, pivoting on a Caribbean axis from which all other coordinates are viewed, understood and measured, facilitating alliances and increasing visibility of Caribbean contemporary art practice. It was co-founded in 2014 by Annalee Davis of The Fresh Milk Art Platform and Holly Bynoe of ARC Magazine Inc.

From its inception, Tilting Axis has grounded its concerns in the Caribbean as a part of a wider creative ecology, and the health, evolution and advancement, a primary objective of its annual meetings held inside and outside of the region. As a part of its expanded team. The core team also includes Dr Mario Caro, independent curator, board member at Res Artis, and Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Tobias Ostrander, independent curator; Natalie Urquhart, Director of The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands; and Lise Ragbir, Director of Galleries of Black Studies, University of Texas, Austin, USA.

Tilting Axis is the organisational platform that manages the annual meetings and coordinates the Fellowships in partnership with host institutions.

About the Partners

The Fellowship is organised by Tilting Axis in collaboration with a group of six Dutch partners led by Het Nieuwe Instituut, who will co-host the fellow in Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

The Amsterdam Museum

The Amsterdam Museum tells the story of the city of Amsterdam; about its past, present and the future. The museum considers it its social mission to make the story of Amsterdam accessible and to present it to as broad an audience as possible. We develop exhibitions, events, publications and other public products, in our museums as well as online. Innovation, hospitality, diversity, (international) cooperation and knowledge exchange are some of our most important values. The museum receives more than 500.0000 visitors each year on its four permanent locations in the heart of the historic city.

De Appel

De Appel is an Amsterdam based contemporary art institute that brings together people, objects and ideas to explore the unknown. With an experimental, open-minded and inclusive focus, the programs of De Appel serve the intellectually and emotionally curious, (non-) specialised art enthusiasts as well as seasoned art professionals.

De Appel organises exhibitions, performances, film screenings, lectures and gatherings that cross boundaries between the arts and other disciplines. These programs facilitate artistic and socially relevant dialogues with various cultural and societal organisations, both in Amsterdam and beyond.

In addition, De Appel is home to a world-renowned curatorial programme and houses an extensive archive and library. De Appel is continuously developing its programs and goals in order to remain critical towards its changing societal and cultural contexts.

The Black Archives

The Black Archives is a unique historical archive for inspiring conversations, activities and literature from Black and other perspectives that are often overlooked elsewhere.

Het Nieuwe Instituut

Het Nieuwe Instituut is the Dutch Institute for Architecture, Design and Digital Culture. The institute combines a research-driven museum, the State Archive for Architecture, the Agency for international programmes and for 2019 an un-official Academy under the title Neuhaus.

In an era characterised by radical technological, economic, cultural and social shifts, Het Nieuwe Instituut aims to illuminate and map the quickly changing world and foster discussion of it, in a networked fashion, with architects, designers, artists, knowledge institutes, cultural organisations and other agents. The institute organises exhibitions, lectures, and fellowships, carries out and publishes research projects, and develops international programmes at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Salone del Mobile in Milan, the Istanbul Design Biennale, and the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture in Shenzhen, among other forums. All Het Nieuwe Instituut’s activities are grounded in the principles of design and innovation – two concepts bound up with changing value systems and conflict.

Witte de With

Founded in 1990, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art was conceived as an art house with a mission to present and discuss the work created today by visual artists and cultural makers, from here and afar. It organizes exhibitions, commissions art, publishes, and develops educational and collaborative initiatives. This non-profit institution has especially worked with artists, and engaged audiences, who are interested in posing challenging inquiries and articulations of our present. While its program considers the contemporary, it also regards how art has been created and experienced in the past, and it imagines the futures art can come to shape.

 

Tilting Axis Curatorial Fellow 2018

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For the second year, Tilting Axis has facilitated, administered and designed an open call for our Curatorial Fellowship. In a strong partnership with the University of Texas at Austin Art Galleries at Black Studies we issued an open call to find and seek out a curator living and working in the Caribbean who would rise to the occasion to use the resources, collections and moment at hand to advance their practice in a nuanced and sensitive way. The jury panel comprising of Lise Ragbir, Joel Butler, Tobias Ostrander, Holly Bynoe, Annalee Davis, Eddie Chambers, Natalie Urquhart, Sara Herman and Mario Caro (9  in total) had the laborious task of deliberating an exceptionally strong pool of candidates from 7 countries.

The competition was stiff—reflecting the wealth of talent, and need for increased opportunities, for curators in the region. We are happy to announce that this year’s Tilting Axis 4 Curatorial Fellowship sponsored by and to take place at the University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded to—Natalie Willis, Assistant Curator at the National Gallery of The Bahamas.  At the University of Texas at Austin with access to collections of work by African American and Caribbean artists, Natalie hopes to look beyond nationalist dialogues and examine how shared history presents itself in different cultural phenotypes. As she says, “One root leads to many rhizomes and proliferations of blackness.”

About Natalie:

Natalie Willis is a British-Bahamian curator and cultural worker. Born and raised in The Bahamas, she received her BA (Hons) and MA in Fine Art at York St John University in the UK. Willis is currently working as an Assistant Curator at National Art Gallery of The Bahamas with a concerted focus on writing aimed at decolonising and decentralising the art archive, and adding to the literature on Bahamian and Caribbean visual culture and developing her burgeoning curating practice. Somewhere in a parallel universe, she still makes artwork.

As an emerging curator desperately trying to not contribute to the brain-drain of the Caribbean, she has dedicated her time at the NAGB to focusing on knowledge building and access through text and speaking to the way the colonial tourism of the late 1800s shaped the cultural and physical landscape of the Anglo-Caribbean.

Willis has been an invited speaker at the Caribbean Studies Association  Conference (2017), the Museums Association of the Caribbean Annual Conference (2016). Most recently, she took part in the Goldsmiths + British School at Rome Summer Intensive Course, themed “Curating the Contemporary”, in Rome in 2017.