In front of the work “Second Dance” by the artist Alizée Gazeau presented at the exhibition “éternelles errances”, curated for CulturFoundry at the CWB © Mona Mil Photography.
Why did you choose an artistic career and how did your passion develop?
I always wanted to organize cultural events, but it was through my studies and professional experiences that I came closer to the artistic field: first through photography, then through contemporary art, which offered me a wider space of expression, beyond a single medium.
Can you explain what CEA is and how you became a member?
CEA is the French association of exhibition curators. It lists professionals in the field and acts as a platform for reflection and advocacy related to this activity.
In 2017, while a member of the Marcel curatorial collective, I discovered CEA, which invited us to speak at a discussion on the role of the exhibition curator. Five years later, I joined the association as an active member.
Beyond sharing work opportunities, CEA enables collective action as a professional group. The association recently supported the affiliation of exhibition curators to the social security system for artist-authors.
“Tin Mirror” series by artist Angèle Guerre presented during the “eternal wanderings” exhibition, curated for CulturFoundry at the CWB © Mona Mil Photography.
What do you like most about your work as a curator?
There are as many ways to practice this profession as there are exhibition curators!
Being a curator allows me to feed my many curiosities by exploring diverse fields—from science to anthropology, including literature, philosophy, and politics. We find ourselves at the heart of contemporary questions, revealed by the sensitivity of artists and their works.
Exchanging with fellow curators, critics, and artists is my greatest source of enrichment. With some of them, our research progresses in parallel, intersects and merges, bringing different perspectives to common subjects. Over time, these dialogues build strong bonds.
Finally, I love to travel, and this job allows me to remain open to other visions of the world through the work of artists and to develop projects and research on an international scale.
What spaces, subjects and themes are most important to you in your curatorial practice?
In my curatorial practice, I explore intersections to understand their limits and potential. It is in these spaces, where individual, social, and environmental boundaries meet and are redefined, that collective practices can emerge and develop.
How do you apply Meridian thinking to your curatorial practice?
Meridian thought, theorized by sociologist Franco Cassano, invites the South—initially that of Italy—to claim its existence as an alternative social model to the North, from a decolonial perspective. An approach also found in Boaventura de Sousa Santos, extended to the epistemological South.
In my way of acting and designing my projects, I try to remain faithful to my own values and to transmit them in my curatorial choices:
Otherness, by promoting dialogue with others in an exercise of non-domination.
Slowness, by rehabilitating the long term in the face of the speed and productivity imposed by Western modernity.
Criticism of the logic of domination, by favoring collective practices and processes of horizontal transmission of knowledge.
These principles inform my curatorial approach and my way of supporting artists and identifying works in a fluid and evolving space of meeting and sharing.
Talk with Davide Daninos and Alice Visentin during the “Capriola” festival curated by PIA ©Raffaella Quaranta.
What is your relationship with art between France and southern Italy?
I finished my studies in Paris, where I also developed my network and my work methodology. But I quickly realized that the prism I had access to was too Eurocentric, with a limited peripheral perspective. This is how I turned to the West Indian, then Caribbean, art scene, meeting artists and contemporary art professionals, whom I interviewed for smarty__magazine .
Upon my return, I wanted to reconnect with Italian artistic production, with a particular interest in practices in marginalized territories, especially in Puglia, my home region. In 2019, I joined the team at PIA (Persistence is All), an alternative school where artists and curators collaborate closely. Since then, we have been inseparable, and I try to join them whenever possible, especially for projects like “Flatland – Contemporary Paper Mâché.”
Which proves that you have to travel the world to get back to your roots!
How did the idea for FLATLAND | Contemporary Paper Maché come about and what were the main objectives of the project?
As a work-based school, our interest in papier-mâché and, more broadly, in artistic techniques predates the “Flatland” project by several years. The school’s first headquarters was in a former carpentry workshop, with dedicated spaces for production and the scale of the workshop meant that materials were already at the heart of our thinking.
However, it was during a workshop with one of the papier-mâché masters, faced with the difficulty of passing on her knowledge due to a lack of students, that we became aware of the urgency of rethinking this technique from a contemporary and holistic perspective. We then envisaged a synergy between contemporary artists and artisans, a collective creation space open to the school's participants.
Papier-mâché is only a starting point for a broader research on plastic techniques, particularly those related to arts and crafts. This categorization of art and craft stems from a Western vision, and our project aims to question its boundaries. “Flatland” thus explores the plural potential of art and the diversity of contemporary artistic practices, favoring direct experience and experimentation.
How has the tradition of the Apulian cartapesta been reinterpreted in a contemporary way through this project?
Thanks to the region's support, we were able to invite, over the course of a year, four artists—Rossella Biscotti, Diego Perrone, Marco Musarò, and Madison Bycroft—along with curators Simone Frangi and Lucrezia Cippitelli, to develop co-creation workshops with artisans Stella Ciardo and Mario Di Donfrancesco. Each, according to their artistic and curatorial approach, brought a fresh perspective to papier-mâché as a material, allowing us to more broadly question the notion of heritage from a dynamic and evolving perspective, thus opening the way to new narratives and modes of production. Photography, performance, and video have infiltrated the papier-mâché work, instilling dynamism and contemporary codes through a more direct relationship with the body.
The project resulted in an exhibition bringing together the co-productions created by all the participants, presented at the Castromediano Museum in Lecce last summer. It was also followed by a publication, “Amalgama” (Amalgamation), which brings together the reflections and research of artists, theorists, academics, and curators on materiality, feminism, the Global South, and public space, based on the collective experience of “Flatland – Contemporary Paper Mâché.”
Presentation of “Meeting Points” with Cassandre Langlois at the Caribbean Arts Campus © A.Janot.
What is the main objective of Meeting Points and how does it contribute to artistic exchange between the Caribbean and Europe?
“Meeting Points” began as a curatorial project conceived with curator and researcher Cassandre Langlois, following our respective professional experiences in the Antilles. Initially conceived as a research project, it gradually transformed, through meetings with artists and theorists, into a mechanism participating in artistic exchanges between the islands of the archipelago and between them and Europe. Through the implementation of projects involving collaborative, participatory, or prospective practices, the project explores spaces for encounter and creation.
During the first stage of the project in Martinique in 2022, the work of artists from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti was presented. Four artists—Gaëlle Choisne, Kettly Noël, Minia Biabiany, and Vir Andres Hera—whose practice is rooted in or in dialogue with the Caribbean, but who had never had the opportunity to work on the island, were invited to interact with artists on site and meet a diverse range of audiences. This dynamic was based on hosting in spaces primarily dedicated to learning, with the first edition focusing on critical pedagogies.
The next stage, which will take place in Marseille, will allow us to continue the discussions initiated in Martinique while adding a perspective of exchange with another territory with its own specificities.
How does Meeting Points integrate different artistic practices, including residencies, workshops, conferences and performances?
“Meeting Points” is designed as a festival, but one that takes a long-term approach, with a slower pace and an inclusive and friendly spirit. By prioritizing collective or participatory projects, the program extends over several months to allow for exchanges to develop, build relationships of trust, and develop mature projects through dialogue with everyone involved.
The time between events also provides an opportunity to fully engage with artists, audiences, and speakers, while creating a space for reflection and assimilation after each shared experience.
During the Martinique leg, which lasted a month and a half, there were artist workshops in primary schools, presentations and performances in art and dance schools, screenings on the university campus and in community settings, discussions at the municipal library, as well as walks in the forest and shared meals.
Next to Sophie Le Gendre and a work from her series "Awakening" during the exhibition "Eternal Wanderings", curated for CulturFoundry at the CWB © Mona Mil Photography.
How will the dialogue between art, pedagogy and research evolve in the future in the next phases of Meeting Points?
The next stop for “Meeting Points” will be in Marseille, where a co-creation workshop for a travel journal has already been held, bringing together artists from the École des Beaux-Arts de Marseille and designers from the Lycée Polyvalent Victor Anicet in Saint-Pierre (Martinique). This editorial project is built around the notions of walking, crossing, and marginal territories.
However, in the Marseille edition, critical pedagogy will be less directly central to the project, although this approach remains underlying. The program will remain close to that implemented in Martinique: a constellation of moments of exchange between invited artists, theorists, and professionals, in dialogue with those from the Marseille region. Marseille is of particular interest to us for its cultural richness, the migratory flows that pass through it, and the dynamics of survival and mutual aid that result from them.
I won't say more for now, but I invite you to follow us for more information on Instagram: @meetingpoints_project .
Can you share a significant emotion or memorable moment from the curation of eternal wanderings, produced with Culturfoundry at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris?
The “Eternal Wanderings” exhibition was a new meeting place for nine artists with whom a relationship of trust was established, which allowed me to continue my reflections on the stance to adopt today in creation in the face of the tensions of today’s world.
If I had to choose a memorable anecdote, it would be when Frédéric Lorin, founder of the CulturFoundry association, jokingly led Anaïs Lelièvre, one of the nine invited artists, to believe that the title of the exhibition would be “There is nothing left to drink”. We laughed about it together at the end of the exhibition, telling ourselves that these moments, on the fringes of the project, are nevertheless an integral part of it. They often get lost, even though they contribute to creating an atmosphere and building relationships throughout the creative process. Quite a wandering…
What is your opinion on artificial intelligence in the art world?
AI in art, as in any other field, is an extraordinary tool, which explains its rapid integration into our daily lives. It can be both a means of creation and experimentation, but also a subject of research, particularly with regard to the production of digital images. It is fascinating to observe how artists appropriate these new technologies, divert them, and push them to their limits to question contemporaneity through creation.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli