Annual Report 2007-8 - The British School at Rome

F I N E A R T S S C H O L A R S ’ A C T I V I T I E SApril, and further extended from 26 April to 4 May atRialtoSantambrogio.Building on the success of the exhibition Transiti in theSpazio Cultura of Æmilia Hotel (December 2006–January2007), a second show was planned by Marianna DiGiansante featuring BSR Fine Arts scholars. At the end ofNovember 2007, Cian Donnelly, Aisling Hedgecock,Lindsay Seers and Prisca Thielmann spent a long weekendin Bologna as guests of Æmilia Hotel. Lindsay and Priscareturned to Bologna in January for reconnaissance andfilming. This led to the exhibition Bologna Grand Tour: theBritish School at Rome that was inaugurated on 23 May atÆmilia Hotel Spazio Cultura (and lasted until 21 June).Alberto Tessore, a cultural promoter and organiser of20Eventi — Arte contemporanea in Sabina, now in its thirdyear, chose to invite Great Britain to participate in 2008(following France in 2006 and Germany in 2007). CristianaPerrella, curator of the Contemporary Arts Programme, puthim in touch with Richard Wentworth, Master of the RuskinSchool of Drawing and Fine Art at the University ofOxford. Fourteen young artists from the Ruskin came tothe Sabina to create works in response to outdoor andindoor spaces throughout four towns. Richard Wentworthhas a long relationship with the British School, and he iscurrently one of the selectors for the ACE Helen ChadwickFellowship. The British participation in 20Eventi08 extendedto Fine Arts scholars. In February and April 2008, CianDonnelly, Anthony Faroux, Aisling Hedgecock, MartaMarcé and Prisca Thielmann went on reconnaissance to theSabina. The resulting interventions were very different fromeach other, both in form and medium, but equally engagedin responding to the ‘spirit of place’.The collaborations between the BSR and the otherforeign academies in Rome continue to bear fruit. SharaWasserman (Arts Liaison Officer, German Academy) has,for the third year, devised and curated events that involveartists from various academies. In October 2007, incollaboration with the Fondazione Musica per Roma, sheorganised CinemArt at the Auditorium Parco della Musica,involving six artists from five academies, with Lindsay Seersrepresenting the BSR. In May 2008, she curated AcademyArchitects at the Acquario at Casa dell’Architettura, incollaboration with the Ordine degli Architetti di Roma eProvincia. Eleven architects from seven different countries(with Prisca Thielmann representing the BSR) presentedworks dealing with their study of different facets of Rome.Contacts between the British School and the GermanAcademy also led to the exhibition Germany–1, England–1,at the gallery of Temple University Rome in June 2008,bringing together two painters, Sainsbury Scholar JohnWalter and German Academy resident Elke Zauner.Finally, the sixth edition of Spazi Aperti was held at theRomanian Academy from 11 to 25 June. The exhibitionincluded the work of more than 50 artists from variousforeign academies and institutions in Rome, with James andEleanor Avery, Anthony Faroux, Catrin Huber and JohnWalter representing the BSR.Research StaffRome-based painter Alessandra Giacinti, former assistantto Italian master director Michelangelo Antonioni, workedas Fine Arts Research Assistant from October 2007. Sheproved reliable and helpful in all areas, including sourcingmaterials and other information for the artists, assisting insite visits, reconnaissance and public relations.Christine Zhu, an undergraduate student from RhodesCollege, Memphis, Tennessee, worked as Fine Arts Intern inMay–June 2008, notably for the exhibitions Bologna GrandTour: the British School at Rome in Bologna and Tutti Frutti atthe BSR.Jacopo BenciAssistant Director (Fine Arts)30