Changes in ArtPace Residency Program

08.15.00

Since 1995, ArtPace's International Artist-in-Residence program has sponsored over
60 visiting artists. Each cycle welcomes three artists: one from Texas, another from
elsewhere in the U.S., and a third international artist. The two-month residency is
followed by an exhibition of the works created in San Antonio and accompanied by a
full-color publication. In the past, artists have been selected through two processes: a
panel selection, where artists are nominated to apply and then are selected by a revolving
panel of arts professionals; and curatorially, where a guest curator selects a group of three
artists for a single residency. Previous guest curators have included Robert Storr
(Museum of Modern Art, New York), Maaretta Jaukkuri (Kiasma Museum of
Contemporary Art, Helsinki), Susanne Ghez (Renaissance Society, Chicago), Okwui
Enwezor (Art Institute of Chicago), and Sun Jung Kim (Sonje Museum of Contemporary
Art, Seoul).

Beginning in 2001, ArtPace will build on the success of its guest-curated residencies
and shift entirely to this selection process. Texas artists will continue to be nominated by
curatorial colleagues throughout the state. After studio visits in San Antonio and a second
Texas city which annually rotates (Houston for 2001), the guest curator will make final
selections of an artist from the region who will be joined by another U.S. artist and an
artist from abroad.

ArtPace Director Kathryn Kanjo comments on the shift in selection process. "We
have found that our guest-curated residencies offer a certain dynamism and cohesion.
Further, by allowing a single curator to identify three worthy artists, ArtPace fosters
curatorial experimentation as well as artistic exploration. As guest-curators apply
ArtPace's formula of regarding the international from a specific, localized site?th
Texas?y work outside of their own institutional parameters. Additionally, this
process affords ArtPace a greater immediacy in its programming, as the panels required
more than two years of advance scheduling."

Lisa Corrin, the Chief Curator at the Serpentine Gallery, London's dynamic
contemporary art center in Kensington Gardens, will be the first guest curator for 2001.
Corrin has organized a number of significant shows for the Serpentine, including solo
exhibitions by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jane and Louise Wilson, Chris Ofili, William
Kentridge, Shirin Neshat and a retrospective exhibition of Bridget Riley. Prior to joining
the Serpentine's staff in 1997, Corrin served as Co-Founder and Chief Curator of The
Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, where she organized the critically acclaimed Fred
Wilson exhibition, Mining the Museum in 1992.

Lisa Corrin's selections for ArtPace further her interest in artists working with an
inter-disciplinary focus. For residencies to begin in May 2001, Corrin has invited New
York-based Brian Conley, whose work incorporates scientific research; Berlin-based
Christian Jankowski, known for work that engages the public in its process; and Houston-
based Lordy Rodriguez, who infuses precise cartography with personal identity and
narrative.

"My whistle-stop tour of studios in Houston and San Antonio could hardly do justice
to the dynamic and wide ranging field of visual arts in these two extraordinary cities,"
remarked Corrin. "The artists I visited were pushing and pulling at the boundaries of
what is happening in contemporary art internationally while responding with immediacy
and rigor to their regional context. In selecting three artists to participate in this residency
I was led by a desire to identify candidates who would find a dialogue between one
another compelling and expansive, as well as to select artists for whom the ArtPace
experience would, potentially, galvanize their careers. It was also important to me that
the artists would make a commitment to San Antonio, would wish to explore the unique
resources and history of the area and harness that energy in the creation of new work."

To increase visibility of the public component of its residency program, ArtPace will
extend the length of the exhibitions. Doubling in length, exhibitions will now be on view
for two months. This change will allow the public more time to interact with the new
projects through increased programming. As a result, ArtPace will host 9, rather than 12
residencies each year.

"While the creative process remains the focal point of ArtPace, we also want to
celebrate the outcome of that process," remarked Kathryn Kanjo. "Extending the
exhibitions recognizes the public's key role in completing the residency cycle by viewing
the artists' efforts."

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