Interviews

PROVENCE

Interview with _________

PROVENCE: Dear _____,

I hope you’re well. PROVENCE is preparing a review on _____, currently on view at _____ in _____.

The text will be written by _____. But there is something else. We drafted a few questions below; it would be wonderful if you had a moment to answer them. This could run as newsletter material in our ongoing series of gallery interviews. Thank you in advance.

Questions

1. If I’m not mistaken, you grew up on the _____ near _____, please correct me if that’s wrong. When we first met, you were still in _____, working with _____ (which also has a headquarters in _____), incidentally the city where PROVENCE began in 2009 (even as the project was “fictionally” founded in Nice). You spent several years in _____, working closely with _____ during a particularly active period for the gallery and the city’s art scene. How did living and working in that context shape your understanding of what a gallery can be, both culturally and politically, and how did that experience influence the way you later approached _____?

2. We met at a transitional moment: you were considering art school in _____ and were interested in _____. Instead, you joined _____ in _____. If I remember correctly, you soon organized a show with _____. What did that shift mean for you personally, and did curating and doing a gallery show function as a kind of study in practice?

3. At_____, artists such as _____, _____, and others reached new audiences in New York. You rediscovered several older artists and also introduced European artists who hadn’t yet had major solo shows in the city. Could you reflect on what those first presentations meant — for the artists, for the gallery, and for you? e

4. After _____ closed in 2013, you joined _____ in _____, where you are now a director. Both you and _____ went on to different institutional or gallery contexts and brought artists into those programs. How did that transition work — moving from running your own gallery to integrating artists within an already established program?

5. Stepping back to the beginning in NYC:_____ opened on the _____ in 2010 (you joined in 2011). How would you describe the New York art scene at that moment, and what did it mean to operate a gallery only a few meters from _____ and the _____?

6. New York today feels very different from the city of 2010–2012. From your vantage point at _____, how have you seen the role of the gallery evolve?

Gallery: Thanks _________ – we both prefer to help with press about the artists rather than the dealers. But I’m here if you have any questions or need info about the _________ show.

PROVENCE: Dear _____,

Thanks so much for getting back to me — I actually wrote the questions today on the train and wasn’t sure if you’d feel comfortable responding to them directly. I somehow expected that you might be a bit shy about doing an interview in your own name or would prefer that ________ take part instead — which, of course, would also be an interesting option.

I had reached out mainly because I thought your perspective would add something new to the series. The Middle East is in focus, with Art Basel and Frieze expanding, and since you lived in _______ for a while, it felt like the right moment to include your voice. Also, we’ve never featured a gallery director before — always the owners — so we were curious to open that angle as well.

Gallery: Thanks for getting in touch and for putting together these very thoughtful questions. I have to say that I am extremely press-phobic and would not be comfortable doing an interview in my own name like this. But if there are any questions about the _____ exhibition specifically, or about _____’s work – that I would be happy to help with!

I hope that’s understandable. Thanks again and sending all best, _____

Collaborations

PROVENCE

un—realized Art Prize

The un—realized Art Prize honors concepts, visions, and ideas that have not yet been realized — and makes their implementation possible. It  is open to professional artists and collectives who live or work in Switzerland.The prize views art as a living practice — a space for thinking, envisioning, and becoming. The jury will select a shortlist of five projects. Four will each receive CHF 3,000 in support, and one will be awarded the main prize of CHF 20,000 to complete the project within six months.

To inspire you for your submission, we asked the prize’s jury members how the notion of un-realization weaves itself into their own practices:

Mitchell Anderson: For an artist realization is like Whack-a-mole.

Tasnim Baghdadi: By granting myself the freedom to remain open to change. I approach my work as a continually unfolding process - one allowed to shift with circumstance, to stay porous, and to absorb the impulses of others. The unfinished elements of a project always gesture toward the other forms it could have taken. In this sense, un-realization becomes a space of imagination and possibility. Curatorial concepts, exhibitions, and public programs inherently depend on collaboration; my role is to enable and facilitate the conditions in which they can emerge.

Jasmine Gregory: I incorporate un-realization by refusing closure. My works are built around propositions rather than conclusions.

Chus Martínez: The un-realized has always had a special status in my mind. It refers to the speculative energy of things I would love to play with. Often, I dream of books or texts that I will not realize that way but in another. Fantasizing with big projects is—today—almost a political action. When downsizing is the rule, at least the mind needs to keep things big.