‘We are delighted to announce that Francesco Urbano Ragazzi will curate the 2022 edition of Lofoten International Art Festival – LIAF. The duo has a track record of strong and compelling exhibition projects. Writing and telling stories are vital parts of their practice, and we look forward to seeing what their encounter with the Lofoten Islands and the North will bring forth.’
–Helga-Marie Nordby, Chair, LIAF Artistic Advisory Board
The curatorial duo tells about LIAF 2022:
‘We are thrilled to be part of the glorious history of the LIAF Biennale, embarking on this journey northward preceded by many colleagues we esteem. At the end of a pandemic and in the midst of a global climate crisis, few places in the world today are more pertinent than the Lofoten Islands as the setting for an art biennial. The Lofoten Islands are a peaceful yet extreme ecosystem in which humans have always faced isolation and sought balance between themselves and the environment. Drawing on the wisdom of these places and the communities that live here, LIAF 2022 will push the boundaries of reality by embracing the ghosts of our time.’
About the curators
Francesco Urbano Ragazzi is an Italian curatorial duo founded in Paris in 2008, trained in ontology, gender and media studies. The duo has developed The Internet Saga, a research platform and cycle of exhibitions that started with a homonymous solo show by independent filmmaker Jonas Mekas at Palazzo Foscari Contarini (2015) and culminated in the exhibition Hillary: The Hillary Clinton Emails by the poet Kenneth Goldsmith at Cinema Teatro Italia (2019), both presented on the occasion of the Venice Biennale. Within this framework, the team has also developed commissioned projects in partnership with private and public institutions such as CERN – European Organization for Nuclear Research (Geneva), Bucharest Biennale and Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah).
In 2015 Francesco Urbano Ragazzi established a close collaboration with the late Jonas Mekas, curating shows, publications and screenings worldwide, including Again, Again It All Comes Back to Me in Brief Glimpses, the artist’s first retrospective exhibition in Asia (the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, 2018), his last solo exhibition (at Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavik International Film Festival, 2018), and the publishing project Transcript 04 44’ 14”: Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR (Humboldt Books, 2020). Since 2017 the duo has been directing the Church of Chiara Fumai, the archive and estate of the Italian feminist artist Chiara Fumai.
Over the years, Francesco Urbano Ragazzi has also curated projects and exhibitions for, among others, the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities, Missoni (New York), CRRI – Centro Ricerca Castello di Rivoli (Turin), ISCP (New York), Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, La Loge (Brussels), La Casa Encendida (Madrid), Institut Français (Paris), Futura – Centre for contemporary art (Prague), Ruya Foundation (Baghdad) and the Emirates Foundation (Abu Dhabi).
About Lofoten International Art Festival – LIAF
LIAF is a biennial festival for contemporary art. It takes place in Lofoten, an archipelago located on the northern coast of Norway, just above the Arctic Circle. Since 1999, LIAF has presented works by international artists in a local and site-specific context. LIAF acknowledges the complexity of place and seeks to be a discursive, engaged and social platform for different positions and to create dialogue between local and global communities. Since 2009, the festival has been organised and administered by the North Norwegian Art Center (NNKS) and LIAF’s Artistic Advisory Board.
LIAF and NNKS receive operational support from Arts Council Norway, Vågan Municipality, Troms and Finnmark County and Nordland County.
Further inquiries: Helga-Marie Nordby (Chair, LIAF Artistic Advisory Board), helga [at] liaf.no
Svein Ingvoll Pedersen (Director, NNKS), svein [at] nnks.no
Photo courtesy of Giorgio De Vecchi-GerdaStudio