Curators transcend borders

Pro Helvetia sends Himanshu Verma to attend a residency specially organised for curators, by the Kronika Gallery at Bytom. [dated May 2007]

In an effort to work across borders and encourage cross-cultural amalgam, the offices of Pro Helvetia Warsaw and New Delhi selected Himanshu Verma to represent India, at the residency specially organised for curators, by the Kronika Gallery at Bytom.

Participating at the Residency along with Himanshu Verma were, Fanni Fetzer from Kunstmuseum Langenthal, Switzerland, Hristina Ivanoska and Yane Calovsky from Skopje, Macedonia and Barbara Piwowarska from Warsaw, Poland. Kronika Gallery in Bytom, Poland conducts this residential programme within which curators interact with local society. The curators are required to take part in the ongoing process of searching for new, effective models for the functioning of a gallery. Himanshu described his residency as a great way of getting to know Polish art, and the work of some very exciting curators.

The subject of this year’s Residential Programme was “Live, Survive and Create” and it concentrated on strategies of surviving, camouflage and conflicts in art. The programme included a panel discussion open for the public on “Orphans of culture, legends and heroes”. The visiting curators visited post-industrial terrains of Upper Silesia with Marcin Doś and attended lectures and film shows. Workshops were organised in the Park of Culture and Recreation in Chorzów, the biggest Europe recreation and propaganda resort built in 1960. Visits to ateliers of Silesian artists was an enriching experience and enabled the curators to interact with local artists.