VENICE BIENNALE

Caroline Wiseman, Curator

ALIVE in the UNIVERSE empowers our unique creativity. 

Like so many people, I had always assumed creativity meant artistic creativity, especially as I have always been so passionately involved in the visual arts.  Then when I bought a ‘tiny art temple’ on the beach in Aldeburgh I began to become interested in the phenomenon of creativity and to delve deeply into its mystery.

I discovered that creativity is not restricted to the arts – it is of fundamental importance to all human life.  It touches each of us every moment of our lives”.

Caroline Wiseman qualified as a Barrister.  She has been an international art dealer for the last 30 years, living and working in London and New York, where her triplet sons grew up.  Ten years ago she and her partner Francis Carnwath founded the Aldeburgh Beach Lookout in an old Lookout tower on Aldeburgh beach as a catalyst for challenging ideas. Caroline Wiseman is founder of ALIVE in the UNIVERSE

David Baldry, Co-Curator

When I was invited by Caroline Wiseman to co-curate ‘ALIVE in the UNIVERSE’ there was already an open call for individuals from anywhere in the world and from any background (not only artists) to make short films. My involvement has been to help refine this aspect and more interestingly to develop the 28 artists in 28 days element of the exhibition. We were conscious from the start that to present a different artist each day was going to be difficult but little did we imagine quite how difficult. 

These 28 ‘Big Bangers’ are intentionally and I suppose inevitably eclectic both in terms of subject, medium and career stage. As a previous university Head of Fine Art, I was very keen to not only include the well established but to also give an opportunity for early career artists to show in Venice during the Biennale in 2019. I am, of course thrilled, that the likes of Sarah Lucas and Julian Simmons, Matthew Darbyshire and Maggi Hambling have all agreed to give us work but also delighted to be able to include younger emerging artists such as Andrei Costache and Adam Riches in the line-up. 

The majority of those showing are either from, live in or have some other connection with the county of Suffolk in the UK. We wanted to celebrate the richness of the artist community here but without any of the usual connotations of ‘the local’. All the artists we have included are working on an international stage with ideas and work that will excite and delight our audience during May this year in the stunning setting of Palazzo Pesaro Papafava. I would like to thank all those who have made this ridiculously ambitious adventure come to fruition

Eileen Haring Woods, Co-Producer

Eileen is an artist, curator and producer. Her background includes art, music, theatre, film, design and production. Born and raised in New York City, Eileen lived and worked in Dublin for six years, London for 30+ years and is currently based in Suffolk, East Anglia, UK.As the artistic director of Haring Woods Studio since 1996, her practice as a curator, artistic / creative director and producer has included large scale, interdisciplinary live events, film festivals, arts and environment festivals, theatrical parades, experimental arts and science R&D programmes, ats led city planning and public art. Within the commercial creative industries work with international brand development and promotion, roadshows, press and PR. She was a Director of the London based VGroup of companies providing comprehensive creative and production services to the arts, entertainment and promotions industries worldwide. In 2014, Eileen was appointed Executive Director of the Global Parliament of Mayors, working alongside the founder and long term friend, Dr Benjamin Barber, to steer the political, cultural and economic development phase through the launch of the GPM in 2016. She continues her work as a member of the GPM international Advisory Committee. Throughout her career she has been fortunate to have worked with international creative legends, political, cultural and faith leaders and local heroes.

Career highlights include: Broadway Shows; New York Film Festivals; London Film Festivals; Museum of the Moving Image (London); Regent Street Christmas Lights; London’s Grand Christma Parade; Covent Garden Flower Festival; 10 years consulting with the City of Westminster; Artistic Director of Gunpowder Park (UK); The Art of Common Space; Interdependence Day; Global Parliament of Mayors. Eileen has been a member of business and community associations in New York and London.

www.haringwoods.com

Lol Sargent, Co-Producer

Lol studied MA Fine Art Printmaking at the Royal College of Art, then became Senior Research Fellow in Audio Visual, during which time he began exhibiting his sound and projection based works at various London and European spaces and events including; The Air Gallery, The Diorama Arts, The Piccadilly Film Festival at BAFTA, and the International Mystery Film Festival in Venice, and later created projection works for a number of contemporary dance collaborations performing at The Dance Umbrella London, the Third Eye Centre Glasgow, and the Berlin Arts Festival. 

From 1986 Lol was Tutor of AV Production then finally Tutor of Time Based Arts until leaving the RCA in 1999. During that time he was made a Fellow of the RCA and received a D&AD Tutor Award. In 2016 he returned to some teaching at the RCA on the recently formed Communication MA Digital Direction course. Alongside his teaching he continued to create fine art installation projects, including in 1993 “Vinyl Requiem”; an Arts Council funded major projection and sound work in collaboration with turntable artist/composer Philip Jeck, which performed in London, Ghent and Hamburg, and won the 1993 Time Out London Dance & Performance Award for Best Site Specific Event. In 2014 it began an anniversary tour (‘Vinyl Requiem (Replayed’)) as a large-scale digital projection with live accompaniment by Philip Jeck.

In parallel to this, in 1994 Lol established Studio Simple, a digital experiential media design practice, and as Creative Director designed and produced numerous digital media installations for major UK museums including; the Science Museum, V&A Museum, Natural History Museum, and for various visitor & brand experiences including; the Play Zone at the Millennium Dome, Eurostar departure lounges at St Pancras Station, and British Music Experience at London’s O2. Simple’s projects have won a numerous major design awards, most notably, a BAFTA for ‘The Famous Grouse Experience’. Lol was also an Executive Creative Director on Mercedes Benz World at Brooklands, and Digital Media Creative Consultant on the Foster + Partners designed UAE pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo. 

After 35 years of studying and working in London, in 2015, Lol set up in Suffolk, where he continues to run Studio Simple and develop his personal projection and tablet based works for exhibition.
www.studiosimple.com