On the 15th September 2014 Ms Refilwe Zulu of the Department of Arts and Culture signed a covering letter calling for curatorial bids for the South African pavilion at the next Venice Biennale, to be held from May 9 to November 22 2015. Here’s the link:
The closing date for bids is 11 a.m. on Monday, October 13, 2014.
The information that the DAC is calling for tenders appeared on the VANSA site on September 29, which is where I picked it up for the first time today. The DAC will give no briefing.
So there is now a bare two weeks left for curators to put together a bid for this major international event, even though the Department of Arts and Culture has committed to a long term rental of the space and has been fully aware that the next Biennale has been coming up for the past two years.
This is a total disgrace, and once more, an insult to the art community.
Here is a short extract from the document laying out the requirements:
‘The appointed service provider will be responsible for the following:
Creative/Curatorial
- Concept and planning of the exhibition
- Design of exhibition space
- Theme of the exhibition
- Commissioning of new art works
- Selection of artists
- Content of catalogue
Logistics
- Design and construction of exhibition
- Transport and Insurance
- Mounting and dismantling
- Venue security
- Liaison with Commissioner
- Liaison with Biennale organizers
- Mounting and dismantling of exhibition
Marketing and PR
- Marketing & PR material including catalogue printing, written material and social media
- Catalogue design
- Press material
- Press releases and interviews
- Profiling of exhibition
Management
- Management of artists and contractual arrangements
- Reporting and monitoring
- Day to day liaison with service providers in both countries
- Contingency plan’
Detailed financial plans are also required. Also to be completed in two weeks! We as the art community need to stand up and let the DAC know exactly what we think.
Why on earth didn’t this document go out at the beginning of this year with a three month deadline to allow for critical consideration and the proper drawing up of plans?
Clearly, the DAC took absolutely no notice of the fury they engendered in 2012 when they followed the same path with a last minute call for a curator. They simply don’t care.
Send us your comments and we will pass them on to the DAC
