Interning at the Venice Biennale “ridiculously exciting”

Crossing paths with the subject of her recently-completed thesis counts as just one of many highlights for Pippa Milne’s Venice Biennale internship.

The Master of Art Curatorship student has just returned from Venice where she worked as part of the Australia Council for the Arts Venice Biennale team, rubbing shoulders with leading lights of the contemporary visual art world – including her thesis subject Hans Ulrich Obrist – and gaining invaluable insights into the most significant event on the world contemporary arts calendar.

Earlier in the year Ms Milne was selected to take part in a new internship program linking Faculty of Arts students with the Australia Council for the Arts, the funding and advisory body which manages Australia’s participation at the Venice Biennale. She says the experience has been a unique privilege.

“Working in Italy in the middle of Melbourne's winter sounded like enough of a treat, but heading along to the Venice Biennale during the build-up and opening week, when artists and curators who I've only ever read about are milling around, seemed almost ridiculously exciting,” she says.

“Innovative curatorial projects, festivals, exhibitions and events like biennales are all of great interest to me, so to get an insight into how Australia manages their representation at the oldest biennale in the art world was exceptional.”

The Venice Biennale is regarded as the most prestigious event on the international contemporary visual arts calendar. In 2011 it attracted 440,000 visitors, including more than 30,000 international curators, critics, collectors and artists to the three-day Vernissage (preview) period alone.

This year’s Australian pavilion features a body of work by artist Simryn Gill. It’s also the last year the current pavilion building will be in use, so the artist and a team of installers have removed the roof of the pavilion, as both a part of the exhibition and a start to the building’s demolition. 

Bronwyn Short, Project Co-ordinator at the Australia Council and manager of the internship program, says the bi-annual event is a unique touch-point for both the University and the Australia Council. Both organisations have been working together since 2011 to promote Australian visual arts internationally and to provide international professional development opportunities for young Australian curators, arts professionals and students.

“The Venice Biennale is one of the most important events in the international visual arts calendar. It provides unique opportunities to be immersed in contemporary visual arts, and to make international connections,” she says.

“Establishing the internship program was a natural next step from this shared understanding. It is a wonderful way to further our relationship with the University by engaging with the people that mean the most to them, their students.”

Formalised by a six-year Memorandum of Understanding, the program will provide opportunities for Master of Art Curatorship and Master of Arts and Cultural Management students to take part in the Venice Biennale internship in 2015 and 2017. Students can also apply for other research-based internships with the Australia Council under the broader partnership.

Beyond this direct student engagement, the Australia Council also hosts a professional development program around the Australian exhibition for curators and arts workers to attend, network and work in Venice.

www.venicebiennale.australiacouncil.gov.au

www.graduate.arts.unimelb.edu.au/cm/