Presentation H + F Curatorial Grant

To highlight the launch of the H + F Curatorial Grant, on September 14th a debate will be organised on contemporary patronage, with amongst others Ann Demeester, Han Nefkens, Annette Schemmel and Prof. Mr. Dr. Nachoem Wijnberg (professor in Cultural Entrepreneurship and Management (University of Amsterdam), poet and expert on economic aspects of art and patronage). This debate is part of a series of public activities related to the Curatorial Programme that from 2007 will be organised for the general audience.

Each year the “H + F Curatorial Grant” will be awarded to an ex-participant of the Curatorial Programme. The grant has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the collector Han Nefkens and is the result of the collaboration between de Appel, the FRAC Nord-Pas-de-Calais in Duinkerken (FR) and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. The winner is selected on the basis of an exhibition proposal that is inspired by the collection of the FRAC and the H + F Collection (www.hfcollection.org) and that also presents lesser-known artists. Annette Schemmel (CP 2006/2007) will receive the first grant and works for the coming eighteen months in the FRAC on a project about “de-collecting” in contemporary art.

With pride de Appel presents the H + F Curatorial Grant, a unique opportunity for a young curator to realise an exhibition in the established institutional environment of the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais in Dunkirk (FR). The grant is the fruit of a collaboration between de Appel arts centre, the H+F Collection, the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais and the Tomorrow Book Studio/Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. The grant will annually be given to an ex-participant of the Curatorial Programme, the international programme for talented curators that de Appel has headed since 1994.

The project has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the journalist, writer and art collector Han Nefkens. Through his long time commitment to the professional development of young curators, Nefkens has elevated art patronage in the Dutch cultural sector to a higher level. Since approximately seven years he has brought together contemporary art in the H+F Collection. Exhibitions and permanent loans to museums like the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, the Centraal Museum, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Huis Marseille, Museum de Pont and museums elsewhere in the world, allow a wide audience gain access to the collection.

The support of the H+F Curatorial Grant means an important stimulus for the further schooling and development of young exhibition makers or art historians. De Appel can offer its students, after having finished the eight month long programme in Amsterdam, a further confrontation with the professional practice by means of an ‘on the job training’ of one and a half year. In the future the current collaboration will be extended to include other museums, cultural institutes, private persons or businesses. Goal is to create a multiform network in which the participants pursue a common goal: opening up innovatory visions of contemporary art to a broad public, formulated and realised by talented exhibition makers.

The winner is chosen on the basis of an exhibition proposition directly or indirectly inspired by the collection of the FRAC and the H+F Collection. Annette Schemmel (DE, 1979), participant of the Curatorial Programme during 2006/2007, will receive the first grant. For the next eighteen months she will work for the FRAC on a project about ‘de-collecting’ in contemporary art. The jury of this first edition, responsible for her selection, consisted of Han Nefkens (H+F Collection), Ann Demeester (director of de Appel arts centre) and Hilde Teerlinck (director FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais).

The FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais was founded in 1982 by the French Ministry of Culture and the national Government to function as a platform for contemporary art. The FRAC now owns the most important collection contemporary art in that region and produces in international collaborations travelling exhibitions. The Jan van Eyck Academie is an institute for research and production in the fields of fine art, design and theory, based in Maastricht in the south of The Netherlands. The Tomorrow Book Studio aims at carrying out research into the future of the book, taking a multi-disciplinary approach.

More information:

http://www.hfcollection.org
http://www.fracnpdc.fr/
http://www.janvaneyck.nl/