AER Conversations at Central Saint Martins

Tuesday 21 May 2024 | 1pm until 2pm | Central Saint Martins, D115

This event is open to all UAL current students and staff. A live stream will be available and a link will be sent out prior to the event. Please select your ticket accordingly.

To coincide with the Art for the Environment exhibition at GroundWork Gallery (16 March – 8 June 2024), celebrating the 2023 AER residencies, Art for the Environment – Conversations at UAL offer a platform for generative encounters in which ideas and experiences are exchanged between exhibiting artists and former AER residents. Building on shared experiences, common lines of enquiry and resonances in practice and research, new and past residents come together to reflect on the impact and legacy of their practices and to reflect on their creative role in envisioning a world of tomorrow.

This series of conversations is curated by Camilla Palestra (Centre for Sustainable Fashion) and organised in collaboration with UAL's Post-Grad Community.

In conversation:

Rudy Loewe (2023 AER resident, LABVERDE, BRAZIL) with Lucy Orta (AER Founder and 2018 guest artist, LABVERDE, BRAZIL) 

Eleni Maragaki (2023 AER resident, The Mahler & LeWitt Studios, ITALY) with Sara Grisewood (2022 AER resident, GroundWork Gallery, UK) 

Moderated by Camilla Palestra   

Biographies

Rudy Loewe (2023 AER resident, LABVERDE, BRAZIL) 

Rudy Loewe (b. 1987) is an artist visualising black histories and social politics through painting, drawing and text. They began a Techne funded practice-based PhD at the University of the Arts London in 2021. This research critiques Britain’s role in suppressing Black Power organising in the English-speaking Caribbean, during the 60s and 70s. Loewe is creating paintings and drawings that unravel this history included in recently declassified Foreign & Commonwealth Office records. Their approach to painting speaks to their background in comics and illustration — combining text, image and sequential narrative. 

Recent exhibitions include A Signficant Threat, VITRINE Fitzrovia, London (2023); uMoya: the sacred return of lost things, Liverpool Biennial (2023); we are a group of people composed of who we are, PEER Gallery, London (2023); Unattributable Briefs: Act Two, Orleans House Gallery, London (2023); Unattributable Briefs: Act One, Staffordshire St., London (2022); New Contemporaries, Humber Street Gallery and South London Gallery (2022); Back to Earth, Serpentine Gallery, London (2022). 

https://rudyloewe.com/ 

Lucy Orta (AER Founder and 2018 guest artist, LABVERDE, BRAZIL) 

https://www.studio-orta.com/Lucy Orta is a visual arts practitioner addressing key social and ecological challenges through making and collaborative working, employing a wide range of media to visualise relationships between the body and our natural and urban habitats. Lucy has been a Professor at London College of Fashion since 2002. She is a member of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion and as Chair of Art and the Environment. Professor Orta founded the Art for the Environment International Artist in Residency Programme at the University of the Arts London.  

Eleni Maragaki (2023 AER resident, The Mahler & LeWitt Studios, ITALY) 

Eleni Maragaki is a visual artist born in Athens, Greece. She studied Painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (2013-2018) and MA Fine Art in Central Saint Martins, UAL (2020-2022), with distinction, as a recipient of the Mona Hatoum Bursaries Award. She is the winner of the Muse Residency Award and the Tate Christmas Card Competition. She has taken part in numerous exhibitions including a screening in LUX Moving Image, London and a group show in the Art Station Dubulti, Latvia. Her latest project was a public commission for a light installation by Stavros Niarchos Foundation. She is also a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.  

https://elenimaragaki.com/  

Camilla Palestra 

Camilla Palestra is a curator, researcher, and educator whose work centres on multidisciplinary and collaborative practices that critically engage with urgent issues of contemporary society and their connection to the socio-political environment and diversity. With over fifteen years of experience in curating and developing research-led projects for museums, galleries, and higher education institutions, including the Venice Biennale, Devi Art Foundation, Royal Academy of Arts London, Fashion Space Gallery, and MART museum, Camilla has worked on solo exhibitions and commissioned projects for artists such as Lucy + Jorge Orta, Shezad Dawood, Rainer Ganhal, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Annie-Marie Akussah, Hanae Utamura, among others.  

Currently, Camilla is working as a Curatorial Associate at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, University of the Arts London, where she has also held teaching positions. She has taught at the University for the Creative Arts, Goldsmiths University of London, London College of Fashion, and Central Saint Martins (UAL). In 2021, Camilla was awarded the Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, in recognition of her commitment and achievements in learning and teaching through her curatorial practice. 

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Chelsea College of Art & Design, 16 John Islip Street, London, United Kingdom