Seminar: Holding Ground, In Many Places
Speaker: Mari Spirito
Time: 6:00-7:30 pm
Mari Spirito will discuss the development of her practice over the past 34 years, including founding Protocinema in 2011 in Istanbul and New York, and what she means by: Holding Ground, In Many Places. Spirito will cover specific projects across different regions, audience development, budget planning, and responding to contexts and conditions. She will present case studies including A Few In Many Places, Protocinema's multi-city exhibition, 2020, 2021; Protodispatch, monthly digital publication initiated with Laura Raicovich, 2022; annual Protocinema Emerging Curator Series, PECS, which originated in partnership with 5533 artists run space, Istanbul in 2015, and exhibitions including The Myth Of Normal, A Celebration fo Creative Expression, at MassArt Art Museum, Boston, on through May 2024 and Fierce Grace, Majlis Talks, which invited curator Duygu Demir, artist Stéphanie Saadé, artist Marianne Fahmy, and author Kaya Genç, at Alserkal Foundation, Dubai, 2023.
About Mari Spirito
For 34 years, Mari Spirito has developed an international practice as a curator, director and mentor. She is currently executive director of Protocinema, founded in 2011, which publishes Protodispatch monthly with partners Argonotlar, Turkey, and Ground Control, Thailand. She is the inaugural Mentor, Spring Call, Sanatorium series supporting independent initiatives, Istanbul, Turkey, sits on the board of trustees of Participant Inc, New York, advisory committee of ArteEast, New York and and advisory committee, AGYU, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada. In 2023 Protocinema produced Art, Ancestors, Ghosts, & the Dead, convening on attitudes towards death across cultures, with ICI (Independent Curators International). She curated The Myth Of Normal, A Celebration Of Authentic Expression at MassArt Art Museum, Boston on through May 2024. Spirito developed and presented A Few In Many Places, an interconnected multi-city group exhibition in 2020 and 2021; guest curated Alserkal Arts Foundation Public Commission with Hale Tenger, Dubai, 2018. In 2015 she initiated the annual Protocinema Emerging Curator Series Mentorship program. From 2013 to 2018 she programmed the Conversations program for both Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach. She was Curator and Director of Alt Art Space, Bomonti, Istanbul from 2015 to 2017; and Director of 303 Gallery New York from 2000 to 2012, advisor 2nd Mardin Biennial, Turkey 2012 and holds a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, Boston.
Protocinema is an ambulant cross-cultural art organization that commissions and presents site-aware art around the world. Our purpose is to support dialogue between cultures on equal footing and create opportunities for listening & expression. By doing so, Protocinema aids the development of relationships both at the mindfully local & globally interconnected levels. Protocinema advocates for empathy, working towards an understanding of difference across regions through its exhibitions, commissions, public programs, publications, and mentorship. Founded in 2011 by Mari Spirito, Protocinema is an ambulant nonprofit 501(c)3, free of ‘brick and mortar.’ Our locations are varied, responding both to global concerns and changing conditions on the ground.
Protodispatch is a monthly digital publication of artists’ dispatches on the life conditions that necessitate their work. Published by the international nonprofit Protocinema, Protodispatch is available for free on the organization’s website, communication channels, and through publication partners including Argonotlar.com, GroundControlTh.com Conceived by Laura Raicovich with Mari Spirito, the initiative was launched in the autumn of 2022.
* To learn conditions of participation in a single seminar, we would kindly ask you to send an e-mail to apply@curatingcontemporaryart.org address noting the required seminar details. Single seminar participation fee is 250 TL.
* This seminar will take place simultaneously at Akbank Sanat and on the online platform Zoom.