JUD Newsletter winter/spring 2016
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016
BONNE ANNÉE/BON ANÉ
FROHES NEUES JAHR!
JANUS, for which January is named, is a month of REFLECTIONS towards the RECENT PAST & EMERGING FUTURE
LOOKING FORWARD 2016 begins firmly having just been awarded the NEW Berlin Art-council’s Arbeits&Recherchestipendium Bildende Kunst 2015 Grant. THANK YOU to the jury for their critical selection as one of the first winners of this ART prize.
Accomplishments, modest or great, are never achieved alone but rather by a confluence of supportive people and institutions who sustain an immeasurable belief in the CREATIVE process. Therefore it is with the sincerest and most humble gratitude that I would like to convey my MANY THANKS to the numerous individuals who have collaborated with me, advised me, and invited me to add my voice to the cultural stage which we all share. Thank you, I am humbled by the generosity.
LOOKING BACK 2015 had a stellar beginning with the recent published images of my work Negerhosen2000 in The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume V: The 20C., Part 2: The Rise of Black Artists
• Video
• deMenil Foundation
• Harvard Press
• ArtNews Magazine
As well as the same work in the recent past U.S. Press
• Art In America Magazine
• New York Times
• The Huffington Post (2013)
Exhibition highlights in 2015 included
PARIS: HAITI, Two Centuries of Artistic Creation
Le Grand Palais / Curators, Régine Cuzine & Mireille Péridon Jérôme (see PDF link for participating artists)
• Video • Brochure PDF • Press (rfi) • Catalog •
BRUSSELS: Belgian Soliloquy (Solo), Platform102
"A private curated presentation space for emerging and mid-career contemporary artists... a forum for new collectors, thinkers and art enthusiast" – O. Rynell Cash, Curator
• JUDwebsite • Platform102.Org • Lumumba (Audio)
•NEW YORK: Between History and The Body, The Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation’s 8thFloor Gallery, Director Sara Reisman. Artists: Elia Alba, Firelei Baez, Nick Cave, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Brendan Fernandes, Jeffrey Gibson, Shaun Leonardo, Ana Mendieta, Paul Anthony Smith, Chungpo Tsering and Saya Woolfalk
• Exhibition PDF • Brochure PDF • SDRubinFoundation
PRAGUE: Kdo hraje?/Who Is Playing?, MeetFactory Gallery, Curator Jaro Varga. Artists: Olaf Breuning, Zuzanna Janin, Pawel Kruk, Annika Larsson, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Shaun Leonardo, Anetta Mona Chişa & Lucia Tkáčová, Assa Kauppi
• MeetFactory • Artalk Magazine • AvantGardePrague
BERLIN: Fortschritt Karibik II , Vierte-Welt+CTP
• ClubTippingPoint • VierteWelt (Video) • BerlinBlog
MINNEAPOLIS: Radical Presence/Black
Performance in Contemporary Art, Walker Art
Center (2014-2015), Curator V.CasselOliver CAMH (Tx)
• WalkerArt.Org • Interview(Audio) • XtraOnline.Org
SAN FRANCISCO: Radical Presence/Black
Performance in Contemporary Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Curator V.CasselOliver CAMH (Tx)
• Yerba Buena Center • Catalog • SFGate Review
FORT LAUDERDALE: From Within and Without / the History of Haitian Photography , Curated by artist Edouard DuvalCarrié
• NSU Art Muse • Media Press • JUD Website • Catalog
Lecture/presentations were delivered in
•NEW YORK in the Springtime of 2015 at Columbia University for The SmallAxe CQV II Conference and in the Fall at The Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation for Between History and the Body exhibition (with artists Jeffrey Gibson and Firelei Báez).
2015 has abundantly offered teachable moments to comprehend the relevance of FAILURE and its discerning VALUE and accepting the support of friends & colleagues during unforeseen calamity -
Therefore the year’s final lecture was given at
Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw Poland. Organized by Paris based scholar/author Olga Stanislawska with Giscard Bouchotte curator/writer creator of the Nuit Blanche PAP Haiti and Dr.Benjamin Cope Zachęta educator, with the auspicious lecture title of “Conspicuous Invisibility/ l’invisibilité Ostentatoire" on my artistic practice and the withdrawal of the Haiti Pavilion from the 56th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (Venice Italy) where The Goddess Constellation / Sky Above Port au Prince Haiti 12 January 2010 21:53 UTC was originally scheduled in commemoration of the five year anniversary of the Haitian earthquake.
• Zachęta • Art News (Polish Pavilion)
• Haiti Pavilion (digital Goddess Constellation collage)
• CAD Study(Haiti Pavilion) • Boules du ciel (public)
• Hyperallergic (featuring Goddess Constellation)
This is the first Newsletter ever sent out from my studio, I have opted against the popular newsletter services Mail Chimp & Constant Contact but remain open to smart alternatives, do let me know your thoughts. Please enjoy the many weblinks in this first newsletter!
For the past 3 years i have taught MFA students of
Trans Art Institute , a low-residency program a workshop course on the complexities of finding ones voice and place as well as persistence beyond the many surprises a creative life offers. We must share solutions and create doors where none exist.
• EchoChamber Diary •
“Neque Mittatis Margaritas Vestras Ante Porcos (Do Not Cast Pearls Before Swine) Mat7:6” a new Artwork was recently completed, commissioned by Small Axe Journal through The Warhol Foundation in conjunction with Caribbean Queer Visualities hosted by Yale and Columbia University. It will be published with essays by scholars of visual culture from the Caribbean and its diaspora. An exhibition is forthcoming. Notable artist/writer teams for this commission include: Ewan Atkinson, Jafari Allen, Vanessa Agard-Jones, Nadia Ellis, Andil Gosine, Leasho Johnson, Roshini Kempadoo, Kareem Mortimer, Ebony G.Patterson, Patricia Saunders, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Terri Francis, Richard Fung, Maja Horn, Nadia Huggins, Rosamond S. King, Charl Landvreugd, Angelique V. Nixon, Jerry Philogene, Jorge Piñeda, Rich Blint.
• Small Axe • CQV1 • CQV2 • Warhol Foundation •
There are a variety of other in-progress conversations still in formation that will slowly bring 2016 into focus. Perhaps a Yale lecture which was postponed last Fall.
Black Portraiture III is happening this Feb. in NY. I was honored to be invited by Dr. Deb Willis for the 2013 Paris edition. Look out for a special issue of NKA Journal regarding these exceptional international conferences. • JUDBlog • Black Portraitures •
2016 is a year in which I envision the embrace of the beauty and poetry of real and imagined histories in a neocolonial world.
With the positive feedback from the BIAC Martinique Biennial of 2013-14 and the challenge Biennials offer in Public space I have now featured public works on my site at • JUD Website public-art
An intimate version will be available in the Caribbean at • 14n61w.org where things are warming up • Frieze
I’ve wanted to initiate an art BOOK project for years and hope to concretize some strategies and look to our combined networks to achieve this in the smartest way. My wish list of laptop and beamer and other working necessities remain challenging as always - perseverance and asking for assistance has often helped to create solutions.
One certainty of 2016 includes The Emily Harvey Foundation New York/Venice have kindly invited me as A.I.R. In Venice Italy later this year where i will produce and expand the MANUSCRIPTS Projects, scribing language in a digital age.
In 2016
Let’s talk more, let’s write more, let’s make more happen. We must enrich the world with experience.
Warm regards from cold Berlin,
Jean-Ulrick Désert