New foundation for Venice - Front Page

New York- and Venice-based art dealer Emily Harvey has set up a new foundation in both cities that will mount exhibitions and offer residencies primarily to artists, writers and curators. Called the Emily Harvey Foundation, the project has been in the works for about five years and is expected to be in full swing by the fall. Harvey owns 10 apartments in Venice that will be made available to individuals for varying lengths of time, from one month to one year, depending on need; her New York apartment, which was once the loft of Fluxus artist George Maciunas, will be available for residencies in the future. Serving with Harvey on the foundation's board of directors are her husband Davidson Gigliotti, writer Henry Martin, artist Christian Xatrec and art dealer Lance Fung, with whom Harvey has shared her New York gallery space since 1996.

Harvey, who has long specialized in the work of Fluxus artists, is, appropriately, keeping the residency requirements loosely defined; she's seeking an international mix of genres and generations, from underrecognized to established individuals. Candidates may be artists, visual poets, architects, critics, scholars or curators. Residents are not required to show in or curate for the space, but doing so is an option. Fung is heading up the exhibitions program, which will in essence combine the two dealers' esthetics and diverse audiences.

Folded into the foundation will be the Archivio Emily Harvey, a nonprofit exhibition space established in 2001 at the foot of the Rialto Bridge arcade, which opened with an exhibition of Fluxus and conceptual artists whom she had shown during her 20 years in New York, including Jean Depuy, Geoffrey Hendricks, Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Daniel Spoerri and Ben Vautier. Last year, in conjunction with the Architecture Biennale, Fung and Harvey co-curated a show of Gordon Matra-Clark and John Roloff. This June, coinciding with the opening of the Venice Biennale, works by Vautier will be on view. New York artist Richard Humann will show there in November. Harvey's personal collection and extensive library and archives, which include prime examples of books published by Dick Higgins under the Something Else Press imprint, will also become part of the foundation's assets. All materials and art works will be made available for research and for rotating exhibitions in the Venice and New York spaces. Harvey sees her foundation as a gift to Venice, and is hoping that it will give the city's contemporary art scene a much-needed boost.

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