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Posted on Jun 11, 2012
Art is Alive in Bermuda: Bacardi Limited Biennial of Contemporary Bermuda Art
Arc Magazine
June 11 2012
The 10th Biennial Exhibition to be featured at Bermuda National Gallery, juried by distinguished international guests Naomi Beckwith, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and Christopher Cozier, artist, curator, writer based in Trinidad. The exhibition opens to the public on June 15 and runs to November 24, 2012. The contemporary art exhibition features 21 artists, including one collective and one partnership, and 39 pieces of original, unseen artwork.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION, BNG Chairman Gary L. Phillips, OBE, JP, says:
“The partnership with Bacardi Limited has allowed the BNG to vie for the coveted crown as the cultural instigator – encouraging and sometimes even pushing the art community to be “daring, irreverent and even subversive”, as suggested by one trustee of the Qatar Museums Authority. From the Whitney Biennial in New York to the Liverpool Biennial in the UK, from La Biennale di Venezia to the Heckscher Museum Biennial in upstate New York, the Bermuda National Gallery has positioned itself among those museums whose intellectual context is to present world class art that is stimulating and provokes debate.”
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION, Managing Director of Bacardi in Bermuda, Stewart Gurr says:
“The Biennial Exhibition is, without doubt, one of the most prestigious events on the Bermuda art calendar. It is firmly established as a world-class forum, showcasing the passion and diversity of local artists and the excellence of Bermuda’s contemporary art. The Biennial Exhibition is a fitting tribute to the passion and excellence of Bermuda’s artists. At Bacardi we understand passion and excellence as this year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Company in Santiago de Cuba in 1862.”
WHO is featured?:
The exhibition features 21 artists: Jacqueline Alma, Louisa Bermingham Flannery, William Collieson, James Cooper, Vaughan Evans, Fungus Art Collective: James Cooper & Russell de Moura, Charlie Godet Thomas, Antoine A. R. Hunt, Christina Hutchings, Sunell Lombard, Jamie Macmillan & Rohan Shastri, Kevin Morris, Manuel Palacio, Dany Pen, Bryan Ritchie, Guluzar Ritchie, Alan C. Smith, Edwin M.E. Smith, Teresa Kirby Smith, Michael Walsh.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS, BNG Curator Sophie Cressall says:
“Bermudian artists, resident or overseas, and foreign nationals, are invited to submit up to five pieces of art to the Biennial Exhibition. This year 56 artists submitted 186 works to be juried by Trinidadian artist and curator Christopher Cozier and Naomi Beckwith, curator from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. This partnering of the international and the local has always been important to the Bermuda Biennial Exhibition, but this year reflects this exchange more than ever before. Bermudian artists submitted artwork from countries such as United States, South Africa, England, and Sweden, and foreign nationals from South Africa, England, America, Malaysia, Canada, Portugal and Turkey participated in the submission process. This international involvement by artists and jurors widens the regional focus of the Bermuda Biennial, and so extends the exhibition into a larger global conversation on the production of contemporary concepts and visual practices.”
Fungus Collective
ABOUT THE ARTISTS, BNG Chairman Gary L. Phillips, OBE, JP, says:
“Along with the enthusiastic support and encouragement from Bacardi International Limited, the Bermuda Biennial would not exist without those artists who are inspired to be bold and prepared to unlock some of the communication doors in order that we might come to a higher understanding of ourselves as a community. We are very pleased with the number and quality of this year’s submissions.”
ABOUT THE ARTWORK in the exhibition, BNG Curator Sophie Cressall says:
“The 2012 Biennial Exhibition reflects a global conversation and consists of artworks ranging in medium and concept; from resolved sculptural pieces to working proposals; from installations to live performance; and from traditional painting to digital animation to name a few.”
WHY is this a must-see exhibition?:
BNG Director Lisa Howie says: “Bermuda is a significant cultural capital in the Atlantic and what we offer the world and ourselves is much more than a beach. Central to this is the cultural value imbedded in the Bermuda Biennial. It is an exhibition that provides a platform for our diverse artistic voices, which speak many languages and perspectives– harmonious/ discordant, resolved or otherwise–at the heart of which is a passion to create and to share.”
International jurors Naomi Beckwith and Christopher Cozier say:
“As the Bermuda National Gallery presents the 2012 version of the Biennial, it proposes an exhibition that attempts to discuss art-making as both a national project and as a condition of the contemporary moment. This Biennial is not an inventory of final conclusions, art objects, but perhaps an engagement of a sequence of investigative actions in conversation with each other. Another opening innings, perhaps, between a host of players – the public, the institution, the artists, the visiting curators and the wider critical location/community in which the conversation is being positioned.”
In conclusion, BNG Director Lisa Howie says:
“As always, we look to our exhibitions to create unique experiences, to re-configure the museum space and serve as sources of inspiration and education. Looking across the history of the exhibition, now in its tenth year, it is clear that for such a small community, we have very much to be proud. Art is alive in Bermuda. Please join us in celebrating the 2012 Bacardi Limited Biennial of Contemporary Bermuda Art.”
Note to Editors
About the Bermuda National Gallery:
Opened in 1992 and located in the City Hall & Arts Centre in Hamilton, the Bermuda National Gallery is both the home of Bermuda’s national art collection and the centre of the Island’s thriving arts scene. It is the Island’s leading art museum with a richly diverse exhibition programme of past and present works by local and international artists that reflects Bermuda’s varied artistic heritage and multicultural community. The Bermuda National Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Admission free. For more details contact Director Lisa Howie on 441-295-9428, director@bng.bm or visit www.bng.bm
About Bacardi Limited
Bacardi Limited, the largest privately-held spirits company in the world, produces and markets internationally-recognized spirits and wines. Its brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDI® rum, the world’s best-selling and most-awarded rum; GREY GOOSE® vodka, the world’s leading super-premium vodka; DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky, the top-selling blended Scotch whisky in the U.S.; BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, the top-valued and fastest-growing premium gin in the world; MARTINI® vermouth and sparkling wines, the world’s leading vermouth; CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, the number-one premium tequila in Mexico and a top-selling premium tequila in the United States; ERISTOFF® vodka, one of the fastest-growing vodka brands in the world; and other leading and emerging brands.
Founded in Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, and family-owned for the past seven generations, Bacardi now employs nearly 6,000 people, manufactures its brands at 27 facilities in 16 markets on four continents, and sells in more than 150 countries. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited. www.BacardiLimited.com
Holly Bynoe is a Vincentian visual artist and writer based in the Caribbean, and a recent graduate of Bard College International Center of Photography where she earned her M.F.A. in Advanced Photographic Studies. Her work has been shown regionally and internationally, and has been featured in numerous publications.
