VALERIE KABOV
ART PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
EDUCATION
2008- Doctorate/PhD, University of Paris 1, Sorbonne, Art History (Art History, Cultural Policy and Cultural Economics), Thesis Director Philippe Dagen – commenced
2007 Master of Art History and Theory (Curatorship and Modern Art), The University of Sydney, Australia.
1992 Bachelor of Laws (LLB), (majors International Law, Intellectual Property)
1992 Bachelor of Economics, The University of Melbourne, Australia (majors International and Development Economics).
Languages: English, French, Russian, basic skills in Portuguese, Italian, Shona
CURRENT ROLES:
2019 co-founder Emerging Painting Invitational – the pan-African emerging painting prize (www.emergingpaintinginvitatinal.com )
2016 - Co-founder/Chair African Art Galleries Association and the Emerging Painting Invitational (www.africanartgalleriesassociation.com, www.emergingpaintinginvitational.com )
2015 onwards, Editor-at-Large, ART AFRICA Magazine, Cape Town, South Africa
2009 – ongoing Director Education & International Projects, First Floor Gallery Harare, responsible for curatorial and educational programming, international projects and strategy.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT TO STUDENTS, ARTISTS AND CULTURAL PROFESSIONALS
Over the past fifteen years I have been working on a broad range of educational and entrepreneurial projects in the arts ranging from developing curricula and teaching courses for continuing professional development course for museum curators, cultural professionals as well as artists and students, such as the Art & Dialogue/Art & Intercultural Dialogue immersive intensives in Paris, Berlin & Barcelona. I have also presented courses in workshop contexts such as the British Council Creative Enterprise programme in Zimbabwe, which not only involved teaching but also ongoing mentoring and long-term support for participants’ projects. In my role as Director of International Projects and Education at First Floor Gallery Harare, supporting the development and supervising the practices of emerging artists, most of whom qualify in Harare with diplomas and certificates, entails a spectrum of pedagogical activity from developing individualised practice development programming – theory and practice, to supporting and supervising research project development as part of further studies as in the case of two of our artists, who are currently pursuing masters’ projects in Europe – Helen Teede an MFA at the Academy of Art and Architecture in Venice, and Miriro Mwandiambira who is working on a Masters of Art in Public Spaces at edhea, in Switzerland. I am frequently invited to support the work of emerging curators and artists – students or early careers, through crits, paper reviews and professional guidance. Most recently I was part of TASAWAR Curatorial Intensive, in Tunis, an educational intensive for early career curators, organised by Goethe Institute of Tunisia.
While involvement in art has been a lifelong engagement, I also trained as a development economist and a lawyer, practising for over 15 years in Australia, UK, Russia and multi-nationally in the field of transactional international law in emerging markets, emerging technologies and intellectual property. My wide-ranging business experience, especially in fields where innovation and entrepreneurial thinking is key, has been a major asset to developing approaches to economically sustainable and communally meaningful projects in the context of emerging African art sectors. Relevantly, I am the co-founder and chair of African Art Galleries Association a network of galleries on the continent, focused on growing successful art sectors and creating a framework of knowledge sharing and mutual support to push back against the historical and market driven power disparities, which distort the development of art in Africa.
SELECTED ACADEMIC CONFERENCES AND PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENTS:
Selected Bibliography
Op-Ed: “Building a Real Arts Industry in Zimbabwe” Three Men on a Boat, October 9, 2012 (http://www.3-mob.com/?p=8075#.UHQc4eFwBrM.facebook)
Submission to Private Sector Support Review Team, Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia, July 2011 http://arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/submissions/private-sector/pdf/16-Valerie-Kabov-Submission.pdf
Artcritical.com: January 2010, Report from Harare http://www.artcritical.com/ValerieKabov/Harare.html
Scribemedia art culture: February 2010, The relative merits of censorship
http://www.smac.us/2010/02/16/the-relative-merits-of-censorship/
Infinity Journal (2009/2010)
· Opinion Piece - Vol 1, Number 3 ,“Global political significance of developing broad-based private patronage for art ”
· Research Essay - Vol 1, Number 2, “Global and local in art policy: audiences and economies”
· Opinion Piece - Vol 1, Number 6 “In politics and in art, context is everything – a brief look at Zimbabwe economic sanctions through the prism of art ”
http://www.infinityjournal.com/search.php?search=Valerie+Kabov&x=0&y=0
Plastik #1 (December 2009/January 2010 issue) Art and Science journal of Sorbonne, University of Paris 1, http://art-science.univ-paris1.fr/personne.php?id=414&
· Postcards from the Antipodes: The return of the prodigal witch doctors -- Allan Giddy’s Active Public Sculpture; Postcards from the Antipodes: The Cheshire Cat Smile on Schodinger’s Cat – The Work of William Seeto
July 2009 Introducing Art, Issue #3 Conceive “ART TODAY - MIXED MESSAGES IN A SPACE AGEBOTTLE”http://www.introducingart.com/ISSUE%203/Conceive/Mixed%20Messages.html
Art Market Report (Australia) Issue 28, 2008 Hedge Fund Paradise (Why Financial crisis is good for the arts)/Home Page Daily, December 2008, (www.homepagedaily.com/Pages/article6507-why-the-financial-crisis-is-good -for-art-the-universe-and-everything-by-valerie-kabov.aspx
ART PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
EDUCATION
2008- Doctorate/PhD, University of Paris 1, Sorbonne, Art History (Art History, Cultural Policy and Cultural Economics), Thesis Director Philippe Dagen – commenced
2007 Master of Art History and Theory (Curatorship and Modern Art), The University of Sydney, Australia.
1992 Bachelor of Laws (LLB), (majors International Law, Intellectual Property)
1992 Bachelor of Economics, The University of Melbourne, Australia (majors International and Development Economics).
Languages: English, French, Russian, basic skills in Portuguese, Italian, Shona
CURRENT ROLES:
2019 co-founder Emerging Painting Invitational – the pan-African emerging painting prize (www.emergingpaintinginvitatinal.com )
2016 - Co-founder/Chair African Art Galleries Association and the Emerging Painting Invitational (www.africanartgalleriesassociation.com, www.emergingpaintinginvitational.com )
2015 onwards, Editor-at-Large, ART AFRICA Magazine, Cape Town, South Africa
2009 – ongoing Director Education & International Projects, First Floor Gallery Harare, responsible for curatorial and educational programming, international projects and strategy.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT TO STUDENTS, ARTISTS AND CULTURAL PROFESSIONALS
Over the past fifteen years I have been working on a broad range of educational and entrepreneurial projects in the arts ranging from developing curricula and teaching courses for continuing professional development course for museum curators, cultural professionals as well as artists and students, such as the Art & Dialogue/Art & Intercultural Dialogue immersive intensives in Paris, Berlin & Barcelona. I have also presented courses in workshop contexts such as the British Council Creative Enterprise programme in Zimbabwe, which not only involved teaching but also ongoing mentoring and long-term support for participants’ projects. In my role as Director of International Projects and Education at First Floor Gallery Harare, supporting the development and supervising the practices of emerging artists, most of whom qualify in Harare with diplomas and certificates, entails a spectrum of pedagogical activity from developing individualised practice development programming – theory and practice, to supporting and supervising research project development as part of further studies as in the case of two of our artists, who are currently pursuing masters’ projects in Europe – Helen Teede an MFA at the Academy of Art and Architecture in Venice, and Miriro Mwandiambira who is working on a Masters of Art in Public Spaces at edhea, in Switzerland. I am frequently invited to support the work of emerging curators and artists – students or early careers, through crits, paper reviews and professional guidance. Most recently I was part of TASAWAR Curatorial Intensive, in Tunis, an educational intensive for early career curators, organised by Goethe Institute of Tunisia.
While involvement in art has been a lifelong engagement, I also trained as a development economist and a lawyer, practising for over 15 years in Australia, UK, Russia and multi-nationally in the field of transactional international law in emerging markets, emerging technologies and intellectual property. My wide-ranging business experience, especially in fields where innovation and entrepreneurial thinking is key, has been a major asset to developing approaches to economically sustainable and communally meaningful projects in the context of emerging African art sectors. Relevantly, I am the co-founder and chair of African Art Galleries Association a network of galleries on the continent, focused on growing successful art sectors and creating a framework of knowledge sharing and mutual support to push back against the historical and market driven power disparities, which distort the development of art in Africa.
SELECTED ACADEMIC CONFERENCES AND PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENTS:
- October 2020, Co-ordinator, moderator of talks programme for Emerging Painting Invitational 2020, online;
- December 2019 – TASAWAR Curatorial Studios – Goethe Institute Tunis, Guest curator/educator, Tunis, Tunisia
- September 2019 – Museum Conversations 2019, Presenter Why African art sectors need art museums? Windhoek, Namibia
- July 2019 – Moderator Emerging Painting Invitational – Talks programme, Harare, Zimbabwe
- May 2019 Presenter – African Art in Venice Forum, - The Case for Africa in Venice, Venice, Italy
- September 2018, Africa Asia a New Axis of Knowledge – IIAS Conference, University of Dar Es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania presenter ” Decolonising and decentering cultural economics - sharing experience of Asian and African art initiatives Zimbabwe-Thailand
- June 2018, Intellectual and Cultural Life under Conditions of Austerity, Maputo, Mozambique, presenter Austerity, Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism and Abstract and Conceptual African Contemporary Art
- August 2017 ACASA conference Accra, Ghana, presenter PANEL TITLE: The Politics of Abstract and Conceptual African and African Diasporic Art, presentation title: Re-appraising abstraction through the prism of African culture, Zimbabwe a case study
- June 2017 co-curator Another Antipodes/urban axis, first major exhibition of contemporary African art in Australia, PS Art Space, Fremantle, Western Australia (touring around the continent)
- June 2016 Presenter, Shifting the Geography of Reason XIII, Caribbean Philosophical Association Conference, University of Connecticut, United States
- February 2016 Presenter and Workshop facilitator, Tesside University Public Lecture Series and MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough, UK
- February 2016 Presenter: IESA Conference, London “Venice Biennale and the art market: anatomy of a complex relationship” – paper presentation.
- July 2015 - January Mentor - British Council, NESTA creative business training and mentorship programme.
- February 2015, Consultant – Mapping of the Arts and Culture Sector in Zimbabwe, Report Commissioned by Africalia and British Council, launched May 2015.
- August 2014, Consultant – Chinhoyi University of Technology, Stakeholder’s Conference on the implementation of the new degree programmes in the Arts & Design faculty – group coordinator Fine Arts Degree assessment.
- August 2014, Johannesburg Art Fair 2014, educational programme, presenter: New models for contemporary art institutions in Africa, First Floor Gallery Harare, a case study.
- November 2013 Co-host and programme coordinator (as part of First Floor Gallery Harare) AfiriPerfoma Biennial 1, Live Art Festival, Director Jelili Attiku, Harare, Zimbabwe.
- October 2013 1:54 Contemporary Art Fair, host/presenter – panel discussion Market, economies & galleries: Exploring New Territories: Antonia Carver (Director, Art Dubai, Dubai), Bisi Silva (Director, Center for Contemporary Art Lagos, Lagos) and Chab Touré (Director, Carpe Diem, Ségou).
- September 2013 – Art Public & Intercultural Dialogue Berlin @ SAVVY Contemporary, EU Grundtvig Lifelong Learning In-Service Training course – presenter, course designed to build skills in inter-cultural dialogue through and understanding of cultural diversity and how engagement can art can become a catalyst for social cohesion.
- April/May 2013 – “No Limits” – coordinator, producer,visual arts competition, Harare International Festival of the Arts – First Floor Gallery Harare;
- March 2013 – co-ordinator of African Partners of Arts Collaboratory first official group meeting as part of Art Dubai;
- May 2012 RTR gallery, Paris, “Search and Rectify” Chris Fortescue Exhibition curator (http://rtrgallery.com/html.php?lang=en&id=278)
- May 2012 Art, Public & Intercultural Dialogue, ACA -- La Associación de Creadoras Audio & Visual, Barcelona, Spain -- EU Grundtvig Lifelong Learning In-Service Training course – presenter, designed to build skills in art education and inter-cultural dialogue focusing specifically on models of engaging different socially alienable groups in society from migrants to the aged and the mentally and physically disabled.
- January 2012 – Harare Beyond Words, H Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand – Exhibition of emerging contemporary art from Zimbabwe, curator and developer of the first exhibition of Zimbabwean contemporary art in Thailand.
- September 2011, Art Diversity & Social Cohesion course (EU Grundtvig Lifelong Learning In-Service Training course – co-presenter, designed to build skills in inter-cultural dialogue through and understanding of cultural diversity and how engagement can art can become a catalyst for social cohesion.
- February 2011 Bukira (New Growth), First Floor Gallery Harare, exhibition of 3 emerging artist – Terrence Musekiwa, Franklin Dzingai, Nyasha Mujati
- November 2010 Critical Dialogue Series, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom (guest lecturer)
- May & July 2010 – Creative Enterprise Programme, British Council, Zimbabwe - teacher presenter of business skills units for the programme delivery in Harare, Mutare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
- April 2007- 2011 Why Art? Newsletter, author, publisher of critically acclaimed subscription based email monthly publication providing an overview of contemporary art, artists, galleries and the art market around Australia. (https://whyartnewsletter.wordpress.com/)
Selected Bibliography
- Syncretic Hands, African philosophy, abstraction and materiality in the work of Igshaan Adams, Ibrahim Mahama and Moffat Takadiwa, Exhibition Catalogue Essay, Material Insanity, Museum of Contemporary African Art Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech, Morocco
- The Rise of Contemporary Art in Zimbabwe, Something We Africans Got, Issue 7, February 2019
- Why Africa needs art museums, Africa Modern (Creating the contemporary art of a continent), 2017, Ekow Eshun editor, KT Wong Foundation, Cape Town
- Continental Drift and Generational Shift, ACASA Triennial 2017, December 2017 issue
- Economics of National Liberation in Venice and Basel, ART AFRICA, September 2017 issue
- Identity Politics and Contemporary African Art: Some Lessons from the Masters, ART AFRICA, March 2016 issue
- Whose South is it Anyway? Issue theme Position Piece, ART AFRICA, December 2015 issue
- Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Global Art Market? Position Piece, ART AFRICA, September 2015 issue
- Committed to the Medium: Painting in Zimbabwe, feature, Art South Africa, June 2015 issue
- Interview: I A M Magazine, 8 Women in the African Art Scene, March 2015http://www.iam-africa.com/iam-valerie-kabov-gallerist-zimbabwe/
- Supporting Zimbabwean art: an interview with Valerie Kabov, 15 October, 2014, Art Media Agency, http://en.artmediaagency.com/93802/supporting-zimbabwean-art-an-interview-with-valerie-kabov/
- Art South Africa: Interview Issue: First Floor Gallery Harare, October 2014 http://artsouthafrica.com/220-news-articles-2013/2288-the-interview-issue-first-floor-gallery-harare.html
Op-Ed: “Building a Real Arts Industry in Zimbabwe” Three Men on a Boat, October 9, 2012 (http://www.3-mob.com/?p=8075#.UHQc4eFwBrM.facebook)
Submission to Private Sector Support Review Team, Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia, July 2011 http://arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/submissions/private-sector/pdf/16-Valerie-Kabov-Submission.pdf
Artcritical.com: January 2010, Report from Harare http://www.artcritical.com/ValerieKabov/Harare.html
Scribemedia art culture: February 2010, The relative merits of censorship
http://www.smac.us/2010/02/16/the-relative-merits-of-censorship/
Infinity Journal (2009/2010)
· Opinion Piece - Vol 1, Number 3 ,“Global political significance of developing broad-based private patronage for art ”
· Research Essay - Vol 1, Number 2, “Global and local in art policy: audiences and economies”
· Opinion Piece - Vol 1, Number 6 “In politics and in art, context is everything – a brief look at Zimbabwe economic sanctions through the prism of art ”
http://www.infinityjournal.com/search.php?search=Valerie+Kabov&x=0&y=0
Plastik #1 (December 2009/January 2010 issue) Art and Science journal of Sorbonne, University of Paris 1, http://art-science.univ-paris1.fr/personne.php?id=414&
· Postcards from the Antipodes: The return of the prodigal witch doctors -- Allan Giddy’s Active Public Sculpture; Postcards from the Antipodes: The Cheshire Cat Smile on Schodinger’s Cat – The Work of William Seeto
July 2009 Introducing Art, Issue #3 Conceive “ART TODAY - MIXED MESSAGES IN A SPACE AGEBOTTLE”http://www.introducingart.com/ISSUE%203/Conceive/Mixed%20Messages.html
Art Market Report (Australia) Issue 28, 2008 Hedge Fund Paradise (Why Financial crisis is good for the arts)/Home Page Daily, December 2008, (www.homepagedaily.com/Pages/article6507-why-the-financial-crisis-is-good -for-art-the-universe-and-everything-by-valerie-kabov.aspx
