Exhibition Team named for Northern Ireland at the
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23/06/2008
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the British Council Northern Ireland are pleased to announce the selection of Karen Downey as the curator who will organise Northern Ireland’s third major international art exhibition at the world’s most prestigious visual arts showcase event, the Venice Biennale 2009.
Karen Downey, who is currently Exhibitions Director at Belfast Exposed Photography, will curate a solo exhibition with new work by Susan MacWilliam, a Belfast artist with a fast growing international reputation, renowned for her installations and video works combining archival research and explorations of perceptual phenomena, parapsychology and the paranormal.
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The Venice Biennale takes place over a five month period, every two years, and attracts the world’s leading contemporary artists, such as Tracey Emin, Ron Mueck and Sophie Calle, representing over 75 nations. Last year’s Northern Ireland exhibition by Derry artist Willie Doherty was a resounding popular as well as critical success, attracting more than 40,000 visitors. The 2009 showcase exhibition will build on Northern Ireland’s recent successes in Venice and draw the world’s attention to the quality of visual arts from Northern Ireland.
Announcing the exhibition team for Venice 2009, Arts Council Chief Executive, Roisín McDonough, said, “Karen Downey’s exhibition proposal was selected from very strong competition for this unique, international career-building opportunity for both curators and artists. The Arts Council has previously acknowledged Susan’s talent and contribution to the local arts scene with a Major Individual Artist Award, so we’re delighted to now take this support to the next level and help her to cement her international reputation.”
Colm McGivern, Director of the British Council, described Karen Downey and Susan MacWilliam as “a formidable artistic partnership that will undoubtedly give us another inspirational show representing the best of Northern Ireland’s arts scene on the world stage”, and Karen Downey herself stressed the importance of this opportunity, calling it “the perfect opportunity to crystallize Susan’s reputation as a leading artist from Northern Ireland, as well as to build on Northern Ireland’s now well-established profile to actively engage the opportunities Venice can offer an artist.”
Susan MacWilliam said she was delighted to be working with Karen Downey on this project, and felt it was “a great honour to be asked to represent Northern Ireland at the 2009 Venice Biennale”. The event, she says, “serves as recognition of my practice and contribution to the arts in Ireland and beyond over the past years. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has supported a number of my recent projects which have taken me down new and exciting research routes. I am excited about developing and expanding these opportunities and presenting my work to the wider audience that the Venice Biennale offers.”
