On 25th of February at 5pm you are welcome to join us for curators Matteo Lucchetti and Judith Wielander presenting the Visible project in conversation with Aura Seikkula from Taike Arts Promotion Centre Finland. Visible calls to action curators, institutions, thinkers and citizens to describe, highlight and create a dialogical space among art projects that expand beyond the ordinary spaces for art while entering directly into the public domain, re-defining its various representations and interpretations.

All over the world, with very different approaches and languages, artists are making radical choices, engaging with certain fields that are often marginal in relation to the discourse produced around the established field of contemporary art. Nonetheless, many recent theoretical and philosophical studies have analyzed and grasped the so-called socially engaged artistic practices from an art historical and sociological perspective, however, fewer reflections and accounts are showcasing the vast amount of cases and the impact that these are having in redefining a role for art in society in a globalized scenario. Visible brings to light and gives strength to artistic actions which have a real capacity to experiment and produce visions that can have an impact on the social and cultural imagination of our contemporary world.  The Visible Award is the first international production award devoted to artwork in the social sphere, that aims to produce and sustain socially engaged artistic practices in a global context.

Judith Wielander is an independent curator based in Brussels. Her main curatorial research is focusing on the intersection of Art and Social Engagement. She has been curator at Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto from 2002 to 2010. Among numerous exhibition projects, she initiated and developed in 2010 with Wael Shawky the film trilogy Cabaret Crusades producing the first film The Horror Show File. She has been a member of the artistic direction of the Turin Biennial Big Social Game2002, curator of Evento II – Urban Art Biennial of Bordeaux 2011, co-curator of the Belgian Pavilion at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia 2014 and curator of Le Jardin Essential – Parckdesign 2016, that generated a 2500 square meters community garden of medical herbs in Brussels. Currently, she is developing with the artist Nico Docks a Post-Mater Program for artists at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerpen. Judith Wielander has initiated in 2009 in dialogue with Michelangelo Pistoletto the Visible Project and co-curates it since 2011 with Matteo Lucchetti.

Italian born, Matteo Lucchetti is a curator, art historian, and writer. His main curatorial interests are focused on artistic practices that redefine the role of art and the artist in society. His recent curatorial projects include First Person Plural: Empathy, Intimacy, Irony, and Anger, BAK, Utrecht, 2018; Marinella Senatore: Piazza Universale. Social Stages, Queens Museum, New York, 2017; De Rerum Rurale, 16th Rome Quadriennale, Rome, 2016; Don’t Embarrass the Bureau, Lunds Konsthall, Lund, 2014; Enacting Populism in its Mediæscape, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, 2012; and Practicing Memory, Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, 2010. In the projects he curated, Lucchetti has worked with artists such as Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Rossella Biscotti, Nástio Mosquito, Marinella Senatore, Jonas Staal, SUPERFLEX, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Pilvi Takala, and Stephen Willats, among others. Since 2010, Lucchetti is curator, with Judith Wielander, the Visible project, a research endeavor and the first European biennial award devoted to socially engaged artistic practices in a global context, initiated and supported by Pistoletto Foundation, Biella and Fondazione Zegna, Trivero. He served as Curator of Exhibitions and Public Programs at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht in 2017–2018.

The event is a part of the Dialogic Retreat, a residency event organized by the Taike Arts Promotion Centre Finland in collaboration with HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme.