History
The
involvement of the Transvoyeur artists and events, tp
the core group or collaboratve, are immensely diverse.
Please select below from the Archives to research the
history of activities:
2003
- The Founding of Transvoyeur
In
2001, Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney, a Liverpool based artist,
met Michael Ricardo Andreev in New York, Manhattan. She
was researching body image for her new series of work
and photographing the elaborate and flamboyant characters
in New York night life. She introduced herself and asked
to photograph him, he agreed and it was discovered he
was an artist too. They established professional dialogue
on the subject of the similarities and differences in
the art markets of Liverpool and New York. By 2003 Sweeney
posed to Andreev the possibility of founding an exchange
with him and other artists between Liverpool and New York.
The seed of Transvoyeur was sown. The programme was structured
and a cultural initiative born. It was recognised the
histories of these two cities are strongly connected and
since Liverpool has been awarded the European City of
Culture 2008, Sweeney created a proposed event to reflect
this in the cultural exchange known as Transvoyeur.
There were twelve artists selected for the exchange, six
in Liverpool and six in New York. All of extremely diverse
art practices in contemporary art. The creative and cultural
objectives of all the artists were to research and produce
art reflective of the city’s they live. Part of
this initiative involved the exchange of cultural discourse,
which people were invited to submit their ideas of the
city and culture. It culminated in an exhibition of the
Liverpool Biennial 2004. Workshops and a symposium were
presented were members of the art community and general
public could come to discuss with the Liverpool and New
York artists the theme of art and the city.
The fundamentals of the programme were to recognise the
multi-cultural nature of a place and the community through
a wide range of themes, relative to the hybridized and
cosmopolitan nature of a city environment and people.
The original artist who formed the exchange were Gaynor
Evelyn Sweeney, Tony Knox, Ben Youdan, Gary Sollars, Paul
Clarkson and George Lund. The New York artists were Michael
Ricardo Andreev, Stephan Fowlkes, Kofi Fosu, Paolo Pelosini,
Reed Stowe and Patricia Jacobs. The art produced by these
is exceptionally diverse, comprising of painters, sculptors,
performance artists, photographers and multi-disciplinary
practices. Thus, this collective was synonymous of the
cosmopolitan demographics of a place. Lisa Eickholt, Curator
of the Eickholt Gallery, and Cathy Butterworth, Bluecoats
Art Centre, were part of the collective in Liverpool and
New York respectively to present the curatorial and institutional
position in the arts and the cities, as part of the symposium.
Now
in 2006, Transvoyeur has evolved to expand to new horizons
and exchanges. From the foundations of Liverpool and New
York, the collaborations still continue exploring a range
of creative concepts and practices to realise new modes
of expressions and ideas in the contemporary arts and
culture. It has grown to provide opportunities to artist
in England, New York, Italy, Spain, Australia and France.
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