September 4–November 15, 2020
EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art announces dates and preliminary details of its 39th edition in 2020.
Golden Vein
The 39th EVA International programme will be developed in reference to the “Golden Vein,” a popular 19th century descriptor for the bountiful pastures of the Limerick / Tipperary region in the mid-West of Ireland. The reference belongs to the historical perspective of seeing the land as a resource to be tapped, exploited, and commercialised through industrialised agricultural production and global trade. The Golden Vein is a starting point for thinking through ideas of land and its contested values within the context of Ireland today, now braced for the uncertain future of a newly aligned post-Brexit Europe.
Opening on September 4, 2020 and continuing until November 15, 2020, the 39th EVA International will be delivered through a programme framework that includes a Guest Programme curated by Merve Elveren (recepient of ICI’s 2018 Independent Vision Curatorial Award), a new Platform Commissions initiative, as well as a number of adjacent commissions and projects directly initiated by EVA and collaborating partners.*
In relation to her plans for the Guest Programme, Elveren has written: “In a global climate of political and economic dispossession, what does ‘land’ stand for? The word evokes as much guilt and helplessness as peace of mind, harbours self-realization and fulfilment, yet, at the same time, bridges deprivation and collectivity. Veined by corresponding and conflicting intensities, the notion of land holds the potential to challenge the status quo by addressing both the present and the future. For the 39th EVA International, I would like to imagine a temporary site for revisiting critical historical models and actions from the recent past, and bringing together examples from today with a view to utilizing and re-interpreting shared memories and material histories. To this end, I hope to collaborate with self-regulating archives of local collective social movements and organizations, and ultimately ignite a conversation on what we can learn from and with them today.”
Platform Commissions
EVA also announces a new initiative for the commission and production of new work by artists currently practising in Ireland. Platform Commissions invites eligble artists to submit short proposals for consideration, to be selected for the 39th EVA International programme by a panel consisting of Merve Elveren, artist Anne Tallentire, and EVA Director Matt Packer. Selected proposals will receive financial and production support through all stages of project development and realisation. The application window for submission of proposals is October 29–December 10, 2018 (10am GMT). Further application information and guidelines will be posted on EVA’s website on the October 29.
Biographies
Merve Elveren is a curator based in Istanbul, Turkey. Elveren was part of the founding team of Research & Programs at contemporary art institution SALT. Independent projects include the co-production of Köken Ergun’s film Ashura (2013) and Volkan Aslan’s solo exhibition Shoot Me! Don’t turn me over! (Pi Artworks, 2018). Most recently, Elveren initiated an independent group of women art professionals in order to organize temporary exhibitions and public events for the benefit of Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation, founded in 1990. She is the recipient of Independent Curators International’s 2018 Gerrit Lansing Independent Vision Curatorial Award.
Anne Tallentire is an artist, born in N. Ireland who lives and works in London. In 1999 she represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale and in 2010 IMMA staged a major survey exhibition of her work entitled This and other Things 1999 – 2010. She co-organises Hmn a quarterly sound test bed centre with writer and curator Chris Fite Wassilak, is a member of Aosdána, is Emeritus Professor in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, where she taught for over two decades, and is represented by Hollybush Gardens, London.
*The 39th EVA International is the first of three biennials that fall within the scope of EVA’s Strategic Plan 2019 - 2024.
