Professor Dawn Ades from the School of Philosophy and Art History at the University of Essex, and Founding Director of ESCALA, has received a CBE for services to higher education and art history in the New Year’s Honours List.
Professor Ades is one of the UK's most influential art historians and curators. She said: "I am very pleased to receive the CBE. I regard the award also as recognition of the wider achievements of Art History at the University, and the success of ESCALA."
Professor Ades has been responsible for some of the most important exhibitions in London and overseas over the past thirty years, including Francis Bacon (Tate, 1985), Undercover Surrealism (Hayward Gallery, 2006), The Colour of my Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art (Vancouver Art Gallery, 2011). In 2012, Professor Ades was Associate Curator of Manifesta 9, curated by Cuauhtémoc Medina, a former University of Essex student.
A Fellow of the British Academy, Professor Ades was a trustee of Tate for a decade until 2005 and remains a member of Tate Modern Council. Her commitment to Latin American art informed Tate’s decision to focus its initial international collecting on this area and to appoint Dr Cuauhtémoc Medina as the first Associate Curator of Latin American Art.
Professor Ades has played a vital role in developing the focus on Latin American art at Essex. After joining the then Department of Art History and Theory in 1968, she pioneered the research and teaching of art from Latin America in the UK, creating the country’s first specialised undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in this field, including modules in pre-contact and colonial art from Latin America.
Professor Ades’ research led, in 1989, to Art in Latin America: the modern era, 1820-1910 at the Hayward Gallery in London and, in 1993, to the founding of UECLAA, now ESCALA. The Collection’s founding donation, by Charles Cosac, was a painting by Siron Franco, about whom Professor Ades has since written the only monograph in English. As Co-Director of the AHRC Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacies, Professor Ades engaged Jorge Macchi as artist-in-residence and has, since 1993, encouraged many students at the University of Essex to work with ESCALA.
ESCALA remains the only public collection in Europe dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art and Professor Ades remains actively involved in its development. Recently she has been able to teach University of Essex students alongside artworks in the University Space at firstsite where ESCALA exhibitions have attracted more than 60,000 visitors since the building opened in 2011.
The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) has awarded a $60,000 grant to the School of Philosophy and Art History (SPAH) and the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) at the University of Essexto support the study of and research into Latin American art.
Essex is the first UK university to receive support from ISLAA, which already works in partnership with the Department of Art History at Columbia University, the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and the Center for Latin American Visual Studies (CLAVIS), in the Department of Art History at the University of Texas, Austin.
The grant from ISLAA further enhances the University of Essex’s longstanding world-class reputation for the study of Latin American art. Students researching and studying Latin American art will benefit through funding to support their studies, research trips, and for visiting scholars. The funding will also allow the expansion of the public lecture programme and other events centred on Latin American art.
The first students receiving ISLAA funding are:
Ian Dudley – who is being supported to travel to Guyana as part of his research for his PhD on Amerindian Landscapes and Bodies in Edward Goodall’s ‘Sketches in British Guiana’, 1841–1844 which investigates ethnographic representation in the 19th century and is part of his broader interests in the art and history of northern Amazonia and its indigenous peoples.
Andrés Montenegro – who is studying the work of Francis Alÿs, Santiago Sierra and Tania Bruguera as part of his PhD is being supported to travel to New York to take part in a discussion on the grotesque at the prestigious 101st Annual Conference of the College Art Association.
Valeria Paz Moscoso – who is undertaking extensive interviews with influential Bolivian artist Roberto Valcácel as part of her research into his work between 1977 and the present.
Iberia Pérez González - is researching artist-run initiatives in Argentina during the years 2000-2005. She travelled to Argentina to undertake a short term research residency at El Levante, Rosario and to gather primary source material through interviews with members.
Ian said: “The funding gives me the chance to travel to Guyana to do research around language and ideas surrounding the soul and being photographed – how indigenous people feel about it now and how attitudes have changed over time.”
Andrés said: “The College Art Association Conference is the biggest and most important forum for art historians from across the world to test ideas, critique each other’s work and develop a dialogue with academics.”
Valeria said: “This award allows me to continue my research at one of the most important universities specialising in Latin American art in the world.”
Professor Dawn Ades CBE, who pioneered the study of Latin American art in the UK at Essex, noted: “We are thrilled and very grateful to ISLAA for making such a generous contribution to SPAH and ESCALA to support students of Latin American Art at the University of Essex. The funding helps students to make the most of the excellent resources at the University and to broaden their horizons through travel and contact with visiting scholars.”
Dr Rebecca Breen, who leads the Latin American art programme within SPAH, added: “We are very keen to build on SPAH’s reputation in the field of Latin American art. As the University approaches its 50th anniversary in 2014, this generous grant from ISLAA has provided a real boost to students, as well as drawing attention to the growing importance of this specialism at the University of Essex, which is supported by an outstanding collection of Latin American art.”
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES ON LATIN AMERICAN ART (ISLAA)
The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) is an educational initiative of the Geo Global Foundation devoted to the support of advanced research in the field of Latin American Art Studies. ISLAA plays a relevant role in promoting Latin American art through its distinguished grants and support of lectures, conferences and publications. ISLAA facilitates grants to partnering universities and institutions which in turn award them to selected scholars, professionals and specific projects.
Soundcloud links
https://soundcloud.com/uniofessex/valeria-paz-moscoso-discusses
https://soundcloud.com/uniofessex/andr-s-montenegro-talks-about
The Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) and the School of Philosophy and Art History at the University of Essex (SPAH) are pleased to announce two travel bursaries of £250 each for on-course graduate and undergraduate students of SPAH wishing to travel to the international conference, ‘Encuentros transatlánticos: discursos vanguardistas en España y Latinoamérica’ (‘Transatlantic Encounters: Avant-garde Disourses in Spain and Latin America’). To be hosted by the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, this conference takes place from 11-13 July, 2013. Successful applicants will also be able to visit ‘La invención concreta’ (‘Concrete Invention’), an exhibition of geometric abstraction works from Latin America to be shown concurrently at the Reina Sofía and drawn from the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Further details of the ‘Transatlantic Encounters’ conference and the ‘Concrete Invention’ exhibition may be viewed here.
ESCALA and SPAH gratefully acknowledge the sponsorship of the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) for making these two travel bursaries available to students of art from Latin America in SPAH. ISLAA is an educational initiative of the Geo Global Foundation devoted to the support of advanced research in the field of Latin American Art Studies and plays a relevant role in promoting Latin American art through its distinguished grants and support of lectures, conferences and publications. The Institute facilitates grants to partnering universities and institutions, which in turn award them to selected scholars, professionals, and specific projects.
Applicants for the ‘Transatlantic Encounters’ travel bursaries should submit a brief statement of no more than 300 words outlining their interest in attending this conference and how their attendance will likely benefit their study of art from Latin America. The statement should also be accompanied by a breakdown of costs for the proposed trip. Please send statement + budget as an email attachment to Dr. Rebecca Breen (rbreen@essex.ac.uk) no later than 12:00 noon, 7 June. The outcome will be announced by 12:00 noon, 11 June. Travel awards are open to all on-course graduate and undergraduate students of art from Latin America in SPAH.
The Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) and the School of Philosophy and Art History at the University of Essex (SPAH) are pleased to announce that Lara Demori is the recipient of a bursary to travel to the international conference, ‘Encuentros transatlánticos: discursos vanguardistas en España y Latinoamérica’ (‘Transatlantic Encounters: Avant-garde Disourses in Spain and Latin America’).
Demori is pursuing a PhD in Art History and Theory at the University of Essex and her research focusses on the redefinition of Neo-Avant-gardes in both Latin America and Europe, In particular, Hélio Oiticica and Piero Manzoni.
ESCALA and SPAH gratefully acknowledge the sponsorship of the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) for making these two travel bursaries available to students of art from Latin America in SPAH. ISLAA is an educational initiative of the Geo Global Foundation devoted to the support of advanced research in the field of Latin American Art Studies and plays a relevant role in promoting Latin American art through its distinguished grants and support of lectures, conferences and publications. The Institute facilitates grants to partnering universities and institutions, which in turn award them to selected scholars, professionals, and specific projects.