PUMA.Creative Partners with 17th Biennale of Sydney to Sponsor all Artists from Africa, the Caribbean and Diaspora

Press Release

Sydney, Australia, 7 May 2010 – puma.creative is pleased to announce a collaboration with Australia’s largest and most respected contemporary visual arts event, the Biennale of Sydney. The partnership will enable all participating artists from Africa, the Caribbean and Diaspora to take part in the 17th Biennale of Sydney through the puma.creative Mobility Awards program, and sponsor a forum for dialogue around Afro-Caribbean interests. Forum keynote speakers will also benefit from puma.creative Mobility Awards to facilitate their participation.

“puma.creative is honoured to contribute to the spirit and creativity of the programming and representatives that the Biennale of Sydney attracts,” said Mark Coetzee, Program Director, PUMAVision; Chief Curator, puma.creative. “As a Sportlifestyle brand, PUMA has longstanding ties with Africa and the Caribbean. Through ongoing puma.creative programs and our puma.creative Mobility Awards, we are dedicated to creating platforms for engagement, and generating awareness of the artwork and artists who hail from the Afro-Caribbean region.”

The Biennale of Sydney is committed to developing audiences for contemporary art, promoting dialogue, understanding and appreciation of the important role art plays in society, increasing mutual understanding, and fostering international cultural exchange. Building on these goals, puma.creative has sponsored 14 prominent African and Caribbean artists and curators to take part in the activities in Sydney.

Through awards provided by the puma.creative Mobility Award program, artists and curators from the Creative African Network and Creative Caribbean Network will participate in the 17th Biennale of Sydney including:

Kader Attia, Artist (Born 1970 in Dugny, Seine Saint-Denis, France) Lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Algiers, Algeria

David A. Bailey MBE, Founding Director, International Curators Forum; Acting Director, National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas

Lara Baladi, Artist (Born 1969 in Beirut, Lebanon) Lives and works in Cairo, Egypt

Roger Ballen, Artist (Born 1950 in New York, USA) Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa

Conrad Botes, Artist (Born 1969 in Ladysmith, South Africa) Lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa

Leah Gordon, Organizer and co-curator, Ghetto Biennale, Port au Prince, Haiti

Joy Gregory, Artist (Born 1959 in Bicester, Oxfordshire, UK) Lives and works in London, UK

Isaac Julien, Artist (Born 1960 in London, UK) Lives and works in London, UK

Amal Kenawy, Artist (Born 1974 in Cairo, Egypt) Lives and works in Cairo, Egypt

Steve McQueen, Artist (Born 1969 in London, England) Lives and works in London, UK and Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nandipha Mntambo, Artist (Born 1982 in Mbabane, Swaziland) Lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa

Penelope Siopis, Artist (Born 1953 in Vryburg, South Africa) Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa

Allison Thompson, Lecturer, Division of Fine Art, Barbados Community College, Barbados

Barthélémy Toguo, Artist (Born 1967 in Mbalmayo, Cameroon) Lives and works in Paris, France; New York, USA and Bandjoun, Cameroon

For more information on the puma.creative Mobility Award winners and their projects at the 17th Biennale of Sydney please click here.

Since the program inception, over 230 puma.creative Mobility Awards have to been made to artists and art professionals to facilitate participation in major international art and cultural events.

As part of the programming for the Biennale, a puma.creative sponsored forum on
Afro-Caribbean contemporary art and culture will take place on Thursday May 13th at Artspace in Woolloomooloo from 2:00 – 4:00 pm. In keeping with the overall theme of this years Biennale, the panel discussion entitled Distance, Diaspora and Aesthetics in African and Caribbean Art, will focus on art and curatorship in and around these regions. Notable artists including Roger Ballen, Conrad Botes, Joy Gregory, Amal Kenawy, Nandipha Mntambo, Penny Siopis and Barthélémy Toguo, will engage in the panel discussion and examine issues under this context including diapora, displacement, poverty and cultural production. Panel speakers are comprised of leading critical thinkers in this field including David A. Bailey MBE, David Elliott (Artistic Director, 17th Biennale of Sydney), Leah Gordon, Colin Richards, Teka Selman and Allison Thompson.

To commemorate the opening of the Biennale and honour all of the puma.creative Mobility Award recipients, puma.creative will host an exclusive dinner with notables from the art world in attendance, on May 13th at Manta on Woolloomooloo Wharf.

For more information on all puma.creative initiatives including the Caribbean Creative Network and Creative African Network visit http://vision.puma.com