29/31 Catherine Place
London SW1E 6DY
United Kingdom
Delfina Foundation’s international residency and public programme fosters critical discourse on contemporary art by bringing together artists, curators and thinkers to explore salient issues. Current and upcoming programmes focus on curatorial research, performative practices, and the politics of food.
Winter:
Events & exhibitions
Concluding this winter’s curatorial season, DF hosts a series of events with resident curators as well as an exhibition by artist Didem Pekün.
Exhibition Histories: Staging Indonesian art in European contexts
Friday, February 26, 6:30–9pm
Alia Swastika’s research display and seminar with material from the Indonesian Visual Art Archive
Constructions in Space
Tuesday, March 8, 6:30–9pm
Marina Noronha discusses sensory experiences and exhibition-making
Queering Curatorial Practice
Thursday, March 10, 6:30–9pm
Susana Vargas Cervantes leads a seminar and workshop on queer curatorship
The Diorama in Colonial Visual Culture
Monday, March 21, 7–9pm
Florence Ostende chairs a roundtable discussion on dioramas in exhibition histories and visual culture
Self-image and the Caribbean Diaspora
Wednesday, March 30, 6:30–9pm
Allison Thompson speaks with Sonia Boyce and and Harold Offeh about the representation of Caribbean artists
Event supporters and partners: Elizabeth & Rory Brooks, IndoArtNow, Institut Français, SAM Fund for Arts & Ecology, and Tate.
Exhibition: Of Dice and Men by Didem Pekün
March 3–April 1, Monday–Saturday 11am–6pm
In conversation: Wednesday, March 2, 6–7pm, the artist with curator Nick Aikens, followed by the opening reception until 9pm.
The artist’s first solo exhibition in London is a diaristic portrait of London and Istanbul including footage of London’s Occupy movement in 2011 and Istanbul’s Gezi protests in 2013. Presented across two screens, the work is a poetic exploration of these cities, contemplating flows of history, individual existence, and choice. Supported by SAHA.
Spring:
Performance as Process
April 4–June 26
This spring, DF launches the second stage of Performance as Process, a thematic programme of residencies and events. In Stage 2, the theme of translation through choreography and language is embedded in the practice of many of the participants. The artists consider how re-articulating objects, sounds, texts, movements, cultures and environments through performance can produce new subjectivities.
Residency programme
Participants include Alexis Blake (USA/Netherlands), Cecilia Bengolea (Argentina/France), Stephen Kwok (USA), Syowia Kyambi (Kenya), Luciana Magno (Brazil), Alex Mirutziu (Romania), and Luisa Nobrega (Brazil).
UK Associates include artists Joe Moran, Emma Smith, and Alex Baczynski-Jenkins with curator Teresa Calonje.
Public programme
Transposition: Work in Process
Wednesday, May 18
An interim presentation of performances from resident artists Stephen Kwok, Luisa Nobrega, and others.
Conditions of an Ideal
Friday, June 3
British Museum, Parthenon Gallery
Presentation of a new performance by Alexis Blake, co-commissioned by Delfina Foundation and Block Universe Festival. The work draws inspiration from the 1914 publication by Diana Watts, The Renaissance of the Greek Ideal.
Chorusing
Saturday, June 25
A symposium and new performance work by UK Associate Emma Smith exploring the collective voice.
Further events to be confirmed include a new presentation of Joe Moran’s ongoing project On the Habit of Being Oneself; a talk with UK Associate Teresa Calonje and guest speakers on the topic of collecting performance; a panel discussion The Prop as Protagonist: Choreographies Beyond Dance; and a performance by Cecilia Bengolea.
Supporters & partners: Associação Cultural Videobrasil, Block Universe, Coleção Moraes-Barbosa, David Roberts Art Foundation, Fluxus Art Projects, Romanian Cultural Institute London, Frances Reynolds, and The Walton Family Foundation.
The Politics of Food: Markets & Movements
June 27–September 18
Since 2014, The Politics of Food has brought together over 70 artists, activists, anthropologists, agronomists, chefs, curators, scientists, and writers from 32 countries through residencies, events, and exhibitions.
In summer 2016, DF’s third season Markets & Movements will explore complex and urgent issues about the production and distribution of food, such as agricultural labour and seasonal migration; developments in biotechnological food sciences; food sovereignty and heritage, from grains to recipes to production methods; how food features in radical collective political movements as well as the increase of individual consumer choice and its impact on the wider global food economy.
Participants will include Amy Franceschini (USA), Thomas Pausz (Iceland/France) Kathrin Böhm (UK), Chris Fite-Wassilak (UK/USA), Jane Levi (UK), Laura Wilson (UK), and more to be announced.
The public programme will include events as part of the Futurefarmers’ Flatbread Society Seed Journey and Kathrin Böhm’s Company: Movements, Deals and Drinks project, among others.
Additionally, this season includes an off-site programme from Cooking Sections at their new installation, The Empire Remains Shop.
Supporters & partners: Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), Charles Wallace India Trust, Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, and The Walton Family Foundation.
