Portuguese artist makes his first visit to Cornwall ahead of his show in April

Portuguese artist, Nuno Sousa Vieira, has visited Cornwall for the first time in preparation for his forthcoming exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 24 April, and is the artist's first show in the UK.

It marks an important point in his career and that of the seven MA Curatorial Practice students from University College Falmouth who are curating the exhibition.

"Cornwall is such a surprise for me," says the artist. "It is so beautiful. Now I hope that I can surprise visitors to the gallery. I will interfere with it - change things - doors, windows - using materials I will bring with me from my studio in Portugal. I hope that I will be able to make visitors think more about the space and the building itself."

Sousa Vieira was in Cornwall to look closely at the gallery spaces at Newlyn Art Gallery. He has been commissioned by the students to make new work especially for this exhibition. Now he must ensure that the works he is proposing will fit and operate as expected when he returns to install them in April. The artist's studio is in an abandoned factory outside Lisbon, and there he makes work from the materials left behind by previous occupants. Sousa Vieira talks of extending the life of these materials, giving them a second life as art objects. In doing so, he makes us question our own attitudes to the buildings we inhabit, and the objects we use and then discard.

This is the second exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery to be curated by students on the MA Curatorial Practice degree course at University College Falmouth.

"Curatorial practice has become an increasingly diverse, collaborative and creative activity - the dynamic interface between contemporary art and its audiences," says Course Leader, Dr Virginia Button.

The partnership between Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange and University College Falmouth offers exceptional opportunities for students. Gemma Norris from Lelant says:

"After finishing my degree, I really thought I would have to move to London to further my studies, but this course offers me even more than I could possibly have hoped for. It is just fantastic to work with a gallery like Newlyn Art Gallery, and to be responsible for commissioning new work from an emerging international artist."

For Gallery Director, James Green, the exhibition is a good example of what Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange are all about:

‘We aim to bring the very best national and international contemporary art to our visitors, and to support the development of local artists and arts professionals in any way we can. This exhibition does all those things, and we are very proud to be working with Sousa Vieira and the students to bring this exciting show to Cornwall."

Nuno Sousa Vieira - ‘Don't underestimate the impact of the workplace'

24 April - 15 May 2010, Newlyn Art Gallery

Monday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm

Admission Free

For further information about Newlyn Art Gallery, visit http://www.newlynartgallery.co.uk/, email mail@newlynartgallery.co.uk or telephone 01736 363715.

For further information about MA Curatorial Practice at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/curatorialpractice, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 214393.

Ends

Contact details:

Newlyn Art Gallery, New Road, Newlyn, TR18 5PZ, email: blair.todd@newlynartgallery.co.uk Telephone: 01736 363715, http://www.newlynartgallery.co.uk/

Anne Hitchcock, email: info@sladecentre.com Telephone: 07870 526363

For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email:  jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk 

Backgound Information for editors:

The Artist:

Nuno Sousa Vieira was born in Leiria, in 1971. Having studied Visual Arts at ESTGAD, Caldas da Rainha, he now lives and works in Leiria and Lisbon. This year, 2010, he has been commissioned to present new work at ARCO, Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de Madrid, and at the Bienal de São Paulo.

Some of his major shows include Chão Morto, Carpe Diem, Lisbon, 2009; To Draw an Escape Plan, Galeria Graça Brandão, Lisbon, 2009; Redesenhar, Empty Cube, Lisbon, 2008; SP(H)É(I), Galeria Graça Brandão, Oporto, 2006 and 1 Hour Later and Impossible Rectilinear Space (m/m# 1/6), CAV, Coimbra, 2005.

Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange:

Newlyn Art Gallery first opened in 1895. The gallery's purpose has always been to give local audiences the chance to view good quality work which they would otherwise have to travel to London to see. In 2006, work began on the extension of the current building and the creation of a new art gallery in Penzance, The Exchange, which is now located on the site of the former Penzance telephone exchange building. The two galleries, designed by MUMA (McInnes Usher McKnight Architects), opened in July 2007.

MA Curatorial Practice at University College Falmouth:

MA Curatorial Practice is delivered in collaboration with three main partners - Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange, Tate St Ives, and visual arts commissioning agency ProjectBase - to provide opportunities for the students to develop the critical and practical skills required for curating in the field of international contemporary art.  The partner organisations - all of whom have regional, national and international profiles offer the students the experience of the curatorial role within the different contexts of a national museum, a publicly-funded gallery and a visual arts commissioning agency.

"Curatorial practice has become an increasingly diverse, collaborative and creative activity - the dynamic interface between contemporary art and its audiences... The combination of partners involved in the delivery of this course creates a marvellous learning opportunity for students" says Course Leader, Dr Virginia Button.

University College Falmouth                           

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012/2013 that will be unique to the South West. 

The University College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

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