Scotland + Venice partnership launches largest ever Learning Programme

Published On Wed 4 Feb 2015 by Grant Hill

Three students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) have been selected to be part of the largest Scotland + Venice Learning Programme to date.

Kieran Milne, Lisa Olsen and Tama Richardson are among 28 students and recent graduates from across Scotland selected by Hospitalfield in Arbroath for the scheme, which gives them the opportunity to learn and develop new skills within the context of the 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, the world’s largest and most prestigious visual arts exhibition.

Beginning with an intense Residential Learning Weekend in March 2015 at Hospitalfield, the Learning Programme will take place alongside the Scotland + Venice 2015 solo presentation of new work by Graham Fagen, one of the most compelling artists working in Scotland today and a senior lecturer at DJCAD.

The Scotland + Venice Learning Programme offers participants training, mentoring, support and work experience. Each of the students will spend up to four weeks in Venice, greeting visitors to Fagen’s exhibition. A key aspect of the Scotland + Venice team’s role will also be to communicate the impact of the programme through a new initiative called ‘The Loop’ which provides an opportunity for the students to produce a collaborative project to share their experience in Venice and inspire other art and design students across Scotland.

Tamara, an Art and Media student at DJCAD, said, “The Venice Biennale stages the most promising and prestigious artists and curators from countries across the world. Participating in the Learning Programme will be an opportunity to expand my knowledge of the context and presentation of contemporary art. It will be an amazing environment to experience while working on site and will undoubtedly influence my future practice.”

Through his teaching at DJCAD, Graham Fagen has already had a significant influence on generations of young artists. His commission for the Venice Biennale, which is curated by Hospitalfield, will be presented at the Palazzo Fontana – a new location for the Scotland + Venice presentation – located off the Grand Canal in the Cannaregio district of Venice.

Tracy Mackenna, Chair of Contemporary Art Practice and Director at DJCAD, congratulated the trio on their success, saying, “This unique opportunity synthesises DJCAD’s aims for its students’ learning: active immersive team work experience located in the site of world-class art.”

Details of the Scotland + Venice Learning Programme are announced alongside the launch of the partnership’s new website, www.scotlandandvenice.com. The website features comprehensive information on the 2015 presentation, background information on the artist and organisers, an archive of previous presentations, and links to Scotland + Venice social media channels, which students in the Learning Programme will help develop content for.

Lucy Byatt, Director of Hospitalfield, said, “We have inherited this wonderful Learning Programme that has been developed in each edition of Scotland + Venice since 2003. The opportunity to shoulder considerable responsibility as the public face of Scotland + Venice and to spend a month living and working in Venice is an experience that I am sure we all wish we had when we were at college. I very much look forward to working with the students that we have selected from each college and thank all the staff who have worked with and guided us. It has been a hugely rewarding experience to meet so many astonishing young people with so much potential”. 

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