Remarks by GEI President Lucio Caputo:
It is with great pleasure that – on behalf of GEI and myself – I extend the most cordial welcome to Cecilia Alemani, who, as you know, is also the Curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale.
Born in Italy, Alemani received a BA degree in Philosophy from the Università degli Studi in Milan in 2001 and an MA in Curatorial Studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York in 2005.
Throughout her career, Alemani has collaborated with many museums, institutions, and foundations, and has also pursued more unconventional projects with non-profits and informal organizations.
From 2007 to 2008, she served as Curator of Special Projects for Artissima in Turin.
From January 2009 to February 2010, she served as Curatorial Director of X Initiative, a year-long experimental non-profit space in New York, where she curated many exhibitions including solo shows by leading artists. At X Initiative she conceived and organized more than 50 events including performances, panel discussions, symposia, lectures, concerts, and screenings.
She is the co-founder of No Soul For Sale, a festival of independent spaces, non-profit organizations, and artists collectives which took place at X Initiative in New York in June 2009 and at Tate Modern in London in May 2010 as the main event for the museum’s tenth anniversary.
Since 2011, she has been the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, which is presented by Friends of the High Line, and the curator of Frieze Projects, presented during the Frieze Art Fair in New York. In 2011 she also worked as guest curator for the performance art biennial Performa 11 in New York.
Alemani also served as an advisor to the Film Festival in Venice, for the category Orizzonti, devoted to new tendencies in filmmaking, and she oversaw the organization of the Future Generation Art Prize, a new prize for emerging artists established by the Viktor Pinchuk Foundation, Kiev.
As an independent curator she organized numerous exhibitions in museums, non-profit spaces, and galleries. She is a contributor to several art publications including Artforum, Domus Magazine and Flash Art.
We are very grateful that Cecilia Alemani has taken the time out of her very busy schedule to be with us here today to discuss her exciting activities for the Italian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, one of the most important art exhibitions in the world.
I am pleased, therefore, on behalf of GEI, to present Cecilia Alemani with the “GEI Friendship Award” in recognition of her many outstanding accomplishments.
The luncheon was held on June 27th in the Stella Private Room
of Le Cirque restaurant in New York City.
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