POOL, an innovative new programme drawing on a ‘pool’ of works from private collections in order to develop and encourage emerging curatorial talent, will stage its first exhibition some a little sooner, some a little later… from 9 June – 18 August 2013 at LUMA Westbau in the Löwenbräu Art Complex in Zürich.
Bringing together works from the celebrated collections of Maja Hoffman and Michael Ringier, the exhibition will be curated by POOL’s first curatorial fellow, Gabi Ngcobo, mentored by Beatrix Ruf (Director and Curator, Kunsthalle Zurich) and Tom Eccles (Executive Director, Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY).
Conceived by Beatrix Ruf, in collaboration with the collectors Maja Hoffman and Michael Ringier, POOL combines the collaboration of an international group of private collectors with a mentor-based training programme for up-and-coming curators. It gives young curators the unique opportunity to use works from private collections as a tool to expand their practice in a public exhibition space.
Gabi Ngcobo (b. 1974, Durban, South Africa) is an independent curator, creative researcher and educator based in Johannesburg. In 2010 she co- founded the Center for Historical Reenactments, a project foregrounding investigations into historical legacies and their impact on contemporary art. She is the first curatorial fellow of POOL and was proposed by POOL mentor Tom Eccles, Director of the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York, of which she is a graduate.
POOL is housed in the spaces of LUMA/Westbau POOL etc., part of the recently converted and expanded Löwenbräukunst in Zurich. One of the world’s preeminent centres for contemporary art, it encompasses a range of galleries, institutions and private collections. POOL functions within this as a new place for collaboration and experimentation between the public and private sectors of the arts. The programme is designed to have an international scope, with LUMA Westbau functioning as a launch pad for POOL projects that will subsequently transfer internationally. POOL is conceived by Beatrix Ruf in collaboration with the founding collections of Maja Hoffmann and Michael Ringier. This pilot project is by the two private collections and is hosted by the LUMA Foundation.
The non-profit LUMA Foundation is committed to supporting the activities of independent artists and pioneers, as well as international institutions working in the fields of art and photography, performance art, publishing, documentary, and multimedia. Established by Maja Hoffmann, the foundation promotes challenging artistic projects combining a particular interest in environmental issues, human rights, education, and culture in the broadest sense. The LUMA Foundation’s current focus is to create a truly experimental cultural complex, the Parc des Ateliers in Arles (France), dedicated to the production of exhibitions and ideas and developed with architect Frank Gehry. This ambitious project envisions an interdisciplinary centre for the production of exhibitions, research, education and archives, and is supported by a growing number of public and private partnerships.
The Foundation engages in long-term collaborations with institutions like the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), CCS Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, New York), Serpentine Gallery and Tate Modern (London), the Kunsthalle Zürich and the Fotomuseum Winterthur (Switzerland), as well as arts festivals and biennials around the world.
