10 AM-5 PM
Area Map 
Parking Installation view, Estman Radio: Richmond. Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia, 2018. Photo: Rob Carter
installation view, Estman Radio. St. Gallen, Switzerland. Image courtesy of the artist.
installation view, Estman Radio: Richmond. Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia, 2018. Photo: Terry Brown
Marinella Senatore
ESTMAN RADIO: RICHMOND
Marinella Senatore’s participatory installation Estman Radio: Richmond is the United States premiere of Estman Radio, an ongoing project in which Senatore creates space for anyone to share their ideas in an open way.
For the duration of Declaration, the piece will operate as a “self-service” radio platform. Patrons are invited to use the equipment to record ideas, conversations, and declarations, or to submit contributions by email (see instructions at www.estmanradio.com). Visitors may stay to listen as others record, or browse prior submissions on the Estman Radio archive—using the iPad on the small table. The recording equipment is generally available on a first-come basis; there are no set time limits but users are aksed to please be respectful and share with others. Periodically, hosts invited by the ICA will record live conversations here that also will become part of the Estman Radio: Richmond archive.
On August 22nd, 2018 at 6pm Free Egunfemi, Founder of Untold RVA, and Chioke I’Anson, VCU Assistant Professor of African American Studies, discuss activating Marinella Senatore’s project, followed by a discussion with Chief Curator Stephanie Smith. This discussion will take place in the ICA’s Auditorium.
ON VIEW
Estman Radio: Richmond, 2018
Mixed media installation including electronic equipment, acoustic materials, carpet, furniture, vinyl, web radio podcast, and participation
Courtesy of the artist and collaborators
LOCATION
Murry de Pillars Learning Lab
I like to provide a spark, an invitation that opens up possibilities. The community-engaged work motivates people to share skills, be engaged, and connect with their broader world. By creating a collaborative work, there are opportunities to share creativity, skill development, camaraderie, and storytelling. —Marinella Senatore
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU AS AN ARTIST?
I see my role as an activator, triggering processes to happen, inspiring people of all ages and abilities to emancipate and empower themselves. I like to provide a spark, an invitation that opens up possibilities. The community-engaged work motivates people to share skills, be engaged, and connected with their broader world. By creating a collaborative work, there are opportunities to share creativity, skill development, camaraderie and storytelling. I look at social, cultural, and environmental issues and for participants, the discovery of profound meanings can be visceral, which helps people figure out their intentions and connections.
WHAT DOES THE WORD “DECLARATION” MEAN TO YOU?
My practice is characterized by public engagement. Declaration on such subject promotes the advancement of knowledge and human endeavor based on social principles. We advocate art as one of the most powerful way of describing and understanding the phenomena of the world around us. Declaration asserts contemporary art’s vital role in society through works that raise urgent questions about the state of our world.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE SHOWING YOUR WORK AT THIS MOMENT IN HISTORY? IN THIS LOCATION?
My work tends to answer the demands of confrontation, visibility, and diversity by resolving these subjects on a creative and intellectual level, where there is no space for an “abusive” role of the artist, but a horizontality of creation. The attempt in archiving “good communities” allows me to be more conscious of this enormous personal, intellectual, and conceptual commitment.
DO YOU BELIEVE ART HAS SOCIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE POWER?
I believe that art can change according to changes in society. I see a different way of rethinking the artist’s role; a role that is more in touch with the needs of contemporaneity–according to public requisitioning, new ideas about social structures, the incredible amount of information required, and the speed of communication, etc. Above all, I see the questioning of these roles from appointed institutions, to the exploitation of contemporary art and culture more generally.
Born 1977, Cava de’ Tirreni, Italy; Lives in Paris, France
Marinella Senatore is an artist who blends theater, music, and film to create new forms of protest. Her work is inspired by public ceremonies, civic ritual, and mass public events and focuses on the political elements of collective activities and the public forum. Senatore’s art is characterized by public participation, open to everyone and uses a broad spectrum of media, ranging from video, drawing, performance, installation, photography, sound, painting, and sculpture.
Senatore received degrees from the Fine Arts School, Naples, Italy, The National Film School, Rome, Italy and the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Select solo exhibitions: Queens Museum in New York (2017); Documenta in Kassel, Germany (2017); Kunthaus in Zurich, Switzerland (2017); Centre Pompidou in Paris, France (2017); Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers in Paris (2016); The High Line in New York, New York (2015); Museum of Contemporary Art in Rivoli, Torino (2013); and Adriano Olivetti Foundation in Rome (2006).
Select group exhibitions: Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (2016); La Vie Moderne, 13e Biennale de Lyon, France (2015); 5th Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art, Greece (2015); Palais de Tokyo in Paris, France (2015); Riso Museum in Palermo, Italy (2011); and the 54th Venice Biennale (2011). Collections Include: Museo Marco, Rome; Museo Maxxi, Rome; Associasione Musei d’Arte Contemporanea, Italy; Kunst Halle Skankt Gallen, Switzerland; and Statens konstråd, Stockholm, Sweden. Select awards: 46th International Contemporary Art Prize (PIAC)-Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco (2015), Maxxi Prize (2014), Gotham Prize(2012), and New York Prize (2010).