INDEPENDENT CURATORS INTERNATIONAL
GIFA<:KĂ&#x203A;Â&#x20AC;Â&#x201A; PART 1 OF 4
ARTISTS GUY BEN-NER, YUKIHIRO TAGUCHI, DAN HALTER, ZHOU XIAOHU, WANDA RAIMUNDI-ORTIZ, THE PROPELLER GROUP, KOTA EZAWA, EDWIN SĂ NCHEZ, AND ROBERT CAUBLE CURATORS MAI ABU ELDAHAB, MAMI KATAOKA, KATHRYN SMITH, LU JIE, FRANKLIN SIRMANS, ZOE BUTT, CONSTANCE LEWALLEN, JOSĂ&#x2030; ROCA, AND RAIMUNDAS MALASAUSKAS INTRODUCTION
Project 35 is a program of single-channel videos selected by 35 international curators who have each chosen one work from an artist that they think is important for audiences around the world to experience today. The resulting selection is released in four installments, and is presented simultaneously in an ever-expanding number of venues.
the extent to which video is now one of the most important and far-reaching mediums for contemSRUDU\ DUW ,Q WKLV ÂżUVW LQVWDOOPHQW IRU H[DPSOH D curator from Egypt, now living in Brussels has selected a piece from an artist based in Israel. At the same time, a Colombian curator living between Philadelphia and BogotĂĄ has selected a project from a Colombian artist who has had few opportunities to present his work outside of his own country. The collective desire for communication â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for sharing perspectives â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is evident in Project 35 through the subjects dealt with by each artist. These range from re-interpretations of philosophical propositions to uprisings and protests in South Africa, propaganda news broadcasts in China, and emerging youth culture in modernday Ho Chi Minh City. The works also reveal the diversity of approaches artists are now taking to the medium, using various animation techniques, as well as borrowing from the language of cinema, performance, and even YouTube to produce works that weave between documenWDU\ DQG ÂżFWLRQ
7KLV ÂżUVW FKDSWHU RI Project 35 begins with Guy Ben-Nerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Berkeleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Island (1999), which refers In developing Project 35, ICI (Independent to the philosopher George Berkeleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s famous &XUDWRUV ,QWHUQDWLRQDO LV UHĂ&#x20AC;HFWLQJ RQ LWV RZQ dictum â&#x20AC;&#x153;to be is to be perceivedâ&#x20AC;?. It is the cura35-year history and interest in video as a medium torsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and ICIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hope that these videos are â&#x20AC;&#x153;perthat not only gives artists the potential for experi- ceivedâ&#x20AC;? by as many people as possible, so that mentation, but which can also be widely and eas- the artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; works have the potential to be a cataily disseminated. Furthermore, the project draws lyst for conversations and exchange across the on ICIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extensive network of curators to trace world. a complexity of regional and global connections among practitioners, as well as to demonstrate