Chikukwa selected to jury of international art contest

toP curator raphael chikukwa (pictured) has been selected to be part of a panel of judges for the prestigious global artistic competition, arte Laguna Prize 2022, in Venice, italy.

arte Laguna Prize is an influential competition for artists and designers, showcases and promotes creative talent. The international art competition open to multiple disciplines — visual, performing, multimedia, landscape and digital arts — for the enhancement of contemporary art and the mapping of its current state.

The contest is in its 17th year and offers the finalist artists the opportunity to exhibit in the breathtaking location of arsenale of Venice, among other venues in the European country.

chikukwa, who is the executive director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) in Harare, feels “greatly honoured” and is “looking forward to working with arte Laguna and other international jury members”.

other members of the jury include digital curator for the castello di rivoli Museum of contemporary art in turin, Giulia colletti; curator, critic and art historian based in Luxembourg, Paul di Felice; project manager at tate Britain in London, curator and producer, chloé Hodge; creative director of iMM — cologne international Furniture Fair, Dick Spierenburg; and curator based in New York and toronto, head of Modern and contemporary art at the art Gallery of ontario, Xiaoyu Weng.

alongside the jury, there will also be the advisory council composed this year by the art critic and curator Luca Beatrice, alberto torsello, winner of the compasso d’oro 2018, and Xing Dong, honorary president of the china Fujian Graphic Design association (Fgda), artistic director of Mansion art Museum and artistic director of Xiamen Ximind culture centre.

in an interview with IndependentXtra yesterday, chikukwa said for him, “Being a member of an international jury provides one with any opportunity to see more international artists and an opportunity to network. Furthermore it’s a free university into art coming from around the globe.”

The founding curator of the Pavilion of Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale, chikukwa — a member of various committees, among them, High Line Plinth in New York 2020, DaaD (German academic Exchange Service), the Delfina Foundation London UK, the Future Generation art Prize, and served as juror for the Dakar Biennale in 2018 — said it’s key for Zimbabwean artists taking part in arte Laguna competition for their works to be counted among other global artists.

“This is a great opportunity to have international jury members looking at your work, but most importantly, arte Laguna is in Venice, home to the biggest and oldest biennial in the world. any artists whose work gets selected will showcase at one of the most important art competition and venue for the global audience to see their works,” he said.

The NGZ chief, who has been on various international panels, is at the forefront of rallying corporate involvement and mobilising sponsorship for the arts in the country. He said he “hopes Zimbabwean corporates will see the importance of supporting local art. to the artists, it’s important to value your works and these competitions are there to promote your work among other global artists”.

Some of the major exhibitions he curated include Hifa (Harare international Festival of the arts) 2000 up to 2004, Lime transmission commonwealth Exhibition in Manchester, 2004 Visions of Zimbabwe at the Manchester city art Gallery and african Heroes in 2006 at the imperial War Museum North.

according to arte Laguna website, the annual event was created to give the opportunity to art talents, more or less young, to emerge, to be noticed by the general public and by the jury composed of important names in the contemporary art scene, as well as to allow a democratic comparison between international artists.

Since 2006, thousands of artists from all over the world have participated, the artworks have been exhibited in Venice and in several other locations and many have been bought.

“am grateful to be part of arte Laguna and it’s my hope to share my experience there after looking at works coming from around the world. i’m also looking forward to seeing more Zimbabwean and african artists at the art competition,” he added.

chikukwa granted this interview while in Mallorca, Spain, for a ciMaM (international committee for Museums and collections of Modern art) annual conference. ciMaM — an affiliate organisation of the international council of Museums — is a global network of modern and contemporary art museum experts. its members are directors and curators working in modern and contemporary art museums, collections and archives.

The conference is running under the theme “The attentive Museum. Permeable Practices for a common Ground”, will be held in Mallorca from today up to Sunday (November 13).

Forty-one contemporary art curators, researchers and museum directors from 24 different countries from around the world are attending the event.