Sunday, September 25, 2011

Speed Dating for Curators and Artists with Bpigs, Berlin

This afternoon I participated in a workshop called Speed Portfolio Viewing run by artist run initiative Bpigs http://www.bpigs.com/projects/speed-portfolio-viewing-ii . Bpigs describes itself as

A PR Network for exhibition spaces and art related venues in Berlin; it includes a printed guide & map, a weekly newsletter and a blog. BPIGS comes out every three months and it is distributed for free in project spaces, galleries and bookstores.  The focus of BPIGS is on showcasing Berlin's contemporary art scene from the artist point of view.”

This is the second time they have run this event and it is essentially like speed dating for curators and artists. Artists are required to submit a portfolio and are selected based on compatibility with the program of curators. I was one of 25 artists to participate.

There have been events like this happening in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, not so much in Perth – it’s not necessary given that everyone knows each other as the scene is so small. So it was my first time participating in such an event and I spoke with 5 curators each for a period of 12 minutes about my work.

I met curator Lauren Reid who is actually from Sydney (there are so many Australians in Berlin!), who works with a gallery I admire called GRANTPIRRI http://www.grantpirrie.com. Lauren is completing a residency with Node Centre for Curatorial Studies http://www.nodecenter.org/ - another interesting professional arts organization - which for artists does studio visits with groups of curators based on particular research topics. Node was initiated and is run by Perla Montelongo and Ignacio García Gómez del Valle  http://www.bpigs.com/projects/have-you-met.

The other curators I met were

The event was good and I enjoyed it. It was well organized and the curators were friendly and interested and the artists weren’t too nervous.

People often have mixed opinions about this kind of “meet and greet” events in relation to artists and curators. But in a city that is overwhelmed with artists, curators, designers and all kinds of creative activity, for me it presented the perfect opportunity to accelerate connecting with people working in the art scene in Berlin. There is no obligation on the side of the curators to put you in shows, just that they are open to the possibility.

There was also the team from Niche Berlin http://www.nicheberlin.de present to meet artists and chat about their practices.

For anyone interested below is a few of the other participating artists picked at random to give an idea of the breadth and quality of participants.

Regina de Miguel http://reginademiguel.net/
Katrin Friedmann http://www.katrinfriedmann.com/

Bpigs has published some feedback from the artists involved here
http://www.bpigs.com/projects/speed-portfolio-viewing-ii-feedback


I forgot to take my camera so here is a Youtube clip of a dog on a skateboard. Because everybody needs a little comic relief from art....sometimes.



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