No regrets for Gina Mobayed when it comes to attending the 2019 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale Emerging Arts Professional – Gina Mobayed.
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery’s Director Gina Mobayed shares her passion for bringing parts of Venice Biennale’s exhibitions back to regional NSW. We spoke to Gina ahead of her placement as one for four Emerging Arts Professionals attending Australia Council’s Venice Biennale Professional Development Program.
What do you hope this will do for your career as an arts professional?
The opportunity to travel to the Venice Biennale with peers is unrivalled. I will be able to connect with practitioners, directors and artists that I would not have had access to in regional NSW. It is also important to visit exhibitions at this scale of ambition and bring parts of that back to Australia and into my own practice. Travelling professionally is one of the steepest ways to develop as a person and as a practitioner so I am really looking forward to it.
Tell us about your most recent curatorial project Deep Revolt – a mid-career survey of Arlo Mountford’s work – which will commence a national tour from April 2019.
Arlo Mountford is one of the most exciting and generous artists I have worked with. His recent survey in Goulburn presented several large-scale video installations and kinetic works that explore the idea of the canon in art history. Working through these incredibly detailed and nuanced animations, Mountford throws lineal time out the window and forces us to consider movements, practices and concepts across time, but all at once. His animations are truly beautiful, but also quite strange and very funny. It’ll be wonderful to bring his work to a significant audience over the next few years with Museums & Galleries NSW, as it was very new to Goulburn audiences and the response was great.
What would you say to your 21-year-old self about starting a career as an arts professional?
I would say look at as much as possible, as often as possible, because developing a keen and confident eye is a great thing. I would also say, maintain your integrity, personal and artistic, with everything you do.
What advice do you have for someone thinking about applying for the next Emerging Arts Professionals Program at the Venice Biennale?
If it is something you want, then go for it! Despite where your career is at within those first 10 years, you must apply to be considered so don’t hesitate. Being towards the end of the emerging stage in my career, I had some hesitations so, consider reaching out to peers, mentors, Create NSW and Australia Council to gauge their thoughts. I am really pleased I ended up applying and was successful.
More information about the selected Emerging Arts Professionals and the Venice Biennale
Emerging Arts Professionals: https://www.create.nsw.gov.au/news-and-publications/news/ambitious-australian-arts-professionals-to-assemble-in-venice/
Venice Biennale: https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/international/Venice-Biennale-Professional-Development-Program/
Published: 28 February 2019