Étant Donnés Contemporary Art Curatorial Fellowship, 2024

Sep 13, 2024 – Dec 2, 2024

For the second year, ICI partnered with Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation to offer travel grants for U.S-based alumni of our professional development programs to conduct research in France. Through the Étant Donnés Contemporary Art Curatorial Fellowship program, Rotem Rozental (Curatorial Intensive alum, New York Fall 2014) received a travel grant of $3,000 to further an ongoing research project and engage with the country’s contemporary art ecosystem.

Villa Albertine supports French-American cultural exchange in education and the arts. The research travel grant is intended to provide American and U.S.-based curators in ICI's network with expanded opportunities to conduct in-depth explorations of French cultural resources, as well as a forum for the exchange of ideas and knowledge among artists, professionals, researchers, and institutions. The Fellow also receives support from the Villa Albertine team and their connections with professionals in France, by expanding their network of contacts and directing them towards venues, artists, and directors of institutions of potential research interest.

MEET THE RECIPIENT:

Rotem Rozental, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Los Angeles Center of Photography

Rotem Rozental will travel to Paris in November 2024 in preparation for Expand and Contract: The Salon, an exhibition opening in June 2025 at the Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP). During the research trip, Rotem will attend Paris Photo, meet with galleries, conduct studio visits, and connect with local arts organizers and producers. These in-person meetings will be instrumental for the next phases of the project and the cultural exchange between Europe and the U.S. that is at its core.

Through mixed media, Expand and Contract touches upon issues of social inequity and marginalization, as well as their impact on geographical and emotional landscapes. Seeking to address disparities experienced by photographers internationally and locally, the exhibition will include projects by galleries and unrepresented artists from Paris and Los Angeles, and will focus on experimental photographic practice.

External conditions—climate, light, heat, cold, and location—may change materials into something new and unexpected. Expand and Contract considers photographic practice in similar terms, exploring how the melding (or separation) of various materials and perspectives may shift our sensorial experience. The focus of the exhibition on experimental photography reflects a growing interest among the global photographic community, to immerse in and expand further ways to think about, experience, and understand our relationship with images. Bringing together diverse group of artists from Europe and across the US, this exhibition explores photography beyond traditional definitions, whether those are reflected in the creative process, or in the presentation of the work in the gallery. 

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