Descripción del Premio
Independent Curators International (ICI), the leading arts organization focused on the role of the curator in contemporary art and culture, announced today that it will honor Jochen Volz with the 2017 Agnes Gund Curatorial Award. Mr. Volz will be presented with the award at ICI's Annual Benefit & Auction in New York City on Wednesday October 25th 2017, hosted by Co-Chairs Sarah Arison, Agnes Gund, and Vik Muniz and Honorary Co-Chairs Sydie Lansing and Ann Schaffer.
The "Aggie Award," established for and named after Agnes Gund for her long-standing dedication to ICI and support for the work of curators, is presented every other year to an established curator for their outstanding contribution to the world of art.
"During a recent ICI talk, Jochen spoke of the ways in which curators can encourage critical thinking and produce new views of the world, new realities, together with artists and audiences. His words and his work show a commitment to experimentation, education and a drive to reflect on matters of society through art that have resonated with ICI's own mission," said ICI's Executive Director Renaud Proch. "I am grateful to count him as a colleague and to be able to honor him with the 2017 "Aggie" Award."
Recently named Director of Pinacoteca de São Paulo, one of the most important art spaces in Brazil, Mr. Volz has spent most of the last two decades between Europe and South America. He was a curator, General Director and finally Artistic Director at Instituto Inhotim from 2004 to 2012. Instituto Inhotim is an ambitious collection of contemporary art uniquely sited across 5000-acre botanical gardens in Minas Gerais. Jochen also served as Head of Programmes at the Serpentine Galleries in London (2012-15).
Mr. Volz has curated exhibitions in spaces across Brazil, and worked internationally on several biennial projects, often championing artists over the long-term. He curated one of the first presentations of Cinthia Marcelle's work outside of Brazil at the 2007 Biennale de Lyon and collaborated again with the artist earlier this summer on the Brazil Pavilion in the 57th Venice Biennale. Last year, Volz was the curator of the 32nd São Paulo Bienal, Live Uncertainty, during a time of rapid and constant social and political changes both in Brazil and across the world. His curatorial vision remained reflexive amid the changes, with the careful consideration and embrace of concepts of ambiguity and disorder in the visual arts as well as other disciplines in science and the humanities.
"I am honored and humbled to receive this very special acknowledgment — named after the inspiring Agnes Gund; and to receive it from ICI, an institution which puts the arts clearly in the center of their work and understands itself as a platform that actively promotes diversity, experimentation, critical thought and alternative realities through art," states Jochen Volz.
Past recipients of the Agnes Gund Curatorial Award have included Lynne Cooke, Robert Storr, Alanna Heiss, Okwui Enwezor, Roselee Goldberg, Matthew Higgs, Germano Celant, and Beatrix Ruf.
ICI's Annual Benefit & Auction will be held on Wednesday October 25th, at the Frank Geary-designed IAC Building in Chelsea, New York. During the evening, ICI will also present the Leo Award to Patricia Phelps de Cisneros for her extraordinary commitment to artists and her pioneering contributions to the field of contemporary art. Tickets for the Benefit are on sale now through ICI's website.
ABOUT JOCHEN VOLZ
Jochen Volz is a German-born curator with the principal part of his career having been developed in Brazil. He is currently the General Director of Pinacoteca de São Paulo and the curator of the Brazilian Pavilion at the 57th Biennale di Venezia (2017). He was the chief curator of the 32nd Biennial de São Paulo (2016). Between 2012 and 2015 he was Head of Programmes at the Serpentine Galleries in London. Prior, he was a curator at the Instituto Inhotim, Minas Gerais, since 2004, where he has served as General Director between 2005 and 2007 and Artistic Director between 2007 and 2012. As a critic, he currently writes for major arts magazines and catalogues and is a contributing editor to Frieze.
ABOUT ICI
Independent Curators International (ICI) produces exhibitions, events, publications, research, and training opportunities for curators and diverse audiences around the world. Established in 1975 and headquartered in New York, ICI is a hub that connects emerging and established curators, artists, and art spaces in all 50 US states and 65 countries, forging international networks and generating new forms of collaborations. ICI provides access to the people and practices that are key to current developments in the field, inspiring fresh ways of seeing and contextualizing contemporary art.
Exposición. 13 dic de 2024 - 04 may de 2025 / CAAC - Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo / Sevilla, España
Formación. 01 oct de 2024 - 04 abr de 2025 / PHotoEspaña / Madrid, España
