Annual Report 2008-9 - The British School at Rome

FACULTY OF THE F INE A RTS
This has been a year of considerable change and reassessment.
As the new Chair of the Faculty of the Fine
Arts, it is my pleasure to congratulate Andrew Wallace-
Hadrill on his new appointment and to thank him for his
contribution to the role of Fine Arts at the School, for a
building programme that extended the gallery facilities and
for the development of an ambitious range of opportunities
for artists at the School. I must also thank Jenni Lomax
who, for six years as Chair, has given her time, support and
invaluable advice to both staff and the Faculty. I join with
members of the Faculty in congratulating her following her
award of the OBE, for ‘services to the visual arts’. I must also
thank members of the Faculty who stepped down this year,
Cathy Hawley and Alison Turnbull, and welcome new
members, Sonia Boyce MBE, William Cobbing, Tania Kovats
and the architect Robert Tavernor.
During the year two new opportunities were introduced
to the School’s residency programme and, sadly, one, the
Wingate Rome Scholarship in the Fine Arts, ceased after a
very successful ten-year period. The School is grateful to
the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation for its support of
this scholarship, and the opportunity it provided for one
artist each year to be a part of the School community for
five months.
The Photoworks Fellowship is the first residency at the
BSR devoted exclusively to photography and lens-based
media. It will be available every two years, and is designed to
give mid-career artists an opportunity to undertake a threemonth
period of studio-based research. The residency is
supported by Photoworks, an independent visual arts
organisation that provides opportunities for emerging and
established artists, curators and writers.
The Quebec Architecture Scholarship, funded by the
Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, is a three-month
residency for professionals in the field of architecture,
landscape architecture, urban planning and environmental
design. It adds further depth to the innovative architecture
programme.
32
After twelve years, the year marked the end in its current
form of the Contemporary Arts Programme at the School,
which had presented an imaginative and ambitious
programme. The Faculty extends grateful thanks to
Cristiana Perrella, curator since 1998, who brought to the
School and to Rome many of the most significant British
artists of the last decade. One-person shows included those
by Martin Maloney, Mark Wallinger, Adam Chodzko,
Richard Billingham, Yinka Shonibare, Sophy Rickett, Martin
Creed, Mike Nelson, Douglas Gordon, Ian Kiaer and Chris
Evans. Cristiana’s programme of recent video art has been
recognised properly as a major contribution to the
documentation of contemporary film and has included
Sweetie; Female Identity in British Art, Video Vibe, and the Video
Zone series. Screenings and lecture series added considerably
to local interest in the School’s programme.
It was with great sadness that we heard of the death in
July of Gordon Burn, the inaugural Sargant Fellow in
Curatorial and Critical Studies, 2007–8.
During the year, Tim Llewellyn, the distinguished art
historian and BSR Council member, undertook a review of
the fine arts at the School and reported to Council. The
primary focus of the review was the artists’ residencies and
their relationship with the rest of the School. Tim’s
recommendations were welcomed by Council and Faculty as
both timely and encouraging of a more coherent and
engaging approach to contemporary visual practice. He
proposes to establish long-term strands of investigation,
embracing all disciplines, and to reintroduce the means by
which distinguished practitioners might have a regular
presence in the School. There are many practical and
financial implications to the proposals, and the Faculty and I
look forward to working with him, the staff, Council and
the Faculty of Archaeology, History and Letters to realise
many aspects of our aspirations for the future.
John Gill
Chair, Faculty of the Fine Arts