The international mediation and dissemination of contemporary art from Austria has been the task of the philanthropic organization Phileas since it was founded in 2014. Now the cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, which has existed since 2017, is being expanded: the annual subsidy will increase from 200,000 to 700,000 euros, and the activities are to be expanded extensively, as Director Jasper Sharp and Secretary of State for Culture Andrea Mayer (Greens) announced on Thursday.
As part of this “repositioning”, the organization will in future bear the title “Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art”. The subject of internationalization is a “very central strategic field” for art, as Mayer explained. In concrete terms, this means that Phileas is expanding its previous activities and inviting representatives of international biennials, museums and art institutions to research trips to Austria, for example as part of year-round visitor programs. Sharp was pleased at the press conference that the number of Austrian artists at international biennials has tripled over the past few years. So far, 79 international curators have been welcomed in Austria, and a total of 100 projects have already been funded abroad, including at the Venice, Sydney and Lyon Biennials. One of the next projects is to set up a “circle of friends” for the Austrian pavilion in Venice, “so that every curator doesn’t have to search for donations again,” says Sharp.
The additional funds are primarily intended to enable the Phileas staff to be increased and the event and exhibition room at Opernring 17 to be used. In the future, Phileas-sponsored contributions will be shown here, which after their international presentation will also be made accessible to the local audience. An exhibition by John Gerrard in cooperation with the Biennale of Sydney will start on March 22nd, Friedl Kubelka will follow on June 21st with a cooperation with MARCO in Rome, and in autumn a presentation by Markus Schinwald in cooperation with the Biennale de Lyon. Another focus will be the publication of monographs. Last but not least, the local galleries are also on the agenda, whose international projects are to be funded.
In addition to networking, Phileas also supports Austrian museums in entering into exhibition cooperations with international partner institutions. As before, local museums are also to be given works of art that Phileas has co-produced for international exhibitions. So far there have been around 50 donations.
Phileas is supported by an international Advisory Board, which is to accompany the activities of the new organization. They include Tessa Praun (director of the Magasin III Museum for Contemporary Art in Stockholm) and Max Hollein of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A supervisory board was also set up. According to Mayer, the funding amount of now 700,000 euros comes from the negotiated budget increase and will not be saved elsewhere. The Phileas funding rate has thus increased to 50 percent. According to Sharp, strict attention is paid not to mix up the budgets in certain areas. For example, the membership programs would not be financed with public money.
“Phileas has done important development work and created an impressive network and raised donations – but there’s still more to be done,” Mayer said optimistically. “Especially now after the pandemic, it is important to take measures that make it possible for local artists to be known beyond the borders.” Sharp presented itself full of energy on Thursday. What would happen with Phileas if, for example, he became the new director of the Albertina? “We’ll cross this bridge when we get there,” Sharp answered the journalist’s question cryptically. In any case, he feels very comfortable with Phileas. Although his title is director, Phileas works as an equal team. In any case, there are enough qualified colleagues from the team who could take over the Phileas management – if the worst comes to the worst. (apa)