#3.2 Ines Marques News from the School of Art, Architecture and Design

'It Is Probably Better To Start From Zero' is a long term curatorial and artistic project taking place in the Window Space at the Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design.

'It Is Probably Better To Start From Zero' intends to highlight the unfixed position of both artistic and curatorial practices and to assume them as research-based activities, potential nexus for discussion, critique and production. Through working with artists whose body of work functions as an ongoing process, the project aims to stress the growth, complexity and diversification of collaborative practices. The unpredictable state of flux inherent in artistic practice will shape the curatorial activity as a constant "state of becoming", as stated by the artist and curator Paul O’Neill. Inspired by the particular properties of the Window Space, the project will also look at the window as a frame of process, exploring the constraints and possibilities of displaying a body of work within these spatial and conceptual boundaries.

After marking its mid-point with #0.2 Workshop, 'It Is Probably Better To Start From Zero' presents a second intervention by each of the four artists exhibited previously over the next four months. By coming back into the Window Space, the artists present the progress of their ongoing research and practice, taking into account the effects of their relation with the curators, the other artists and the space itself. For her second display, Inês presents Digestion, a humorous continuation of her previous installation Blend In. It follows the questions raised before regarding globalisation and its input towards a future hegemonised world. Culture, language, religion, demographic presence, ideology and economic expropriation are all part of an alimentary bolus that dismantles physically, in smaller pieces, for the possibility of a digestion. To digest something is to acknowledge that it comes as a pre-processed reality of something that is already past and it was raised within a system that is not only ours—there is a need to acknowledge it as a collective digestive organism. This display will be a place to rethink how generations re-evaluate previous generations’ decisions and how they are processed in a fast-forward thinking world. It intends to raise awareness to how this decision making process shapes our world and how it can be questioned.

The artist

Inês Marques (born 1990, Lisbon) is a London based designer. She has completed a BA in Multimedia Arts - Installation and Performance at the Fine Arts University of Lisbon, Portugal and is currently undertaking a Material Futures MA at Central Saint Martins at the University of the Arts London, aimed at engaging designers to have a critical and social point of view whilst developing their projects. She was involved in the MAE Artist Residents in Sesimbra and worked in collaboration with FAZ, a young collective group at Arpad Szenes and Vieira da Silva Museum, Lisbon. Her work has recently been shown at PROTECHT exhibition at The Cass Bank Gallery and she also undertook the role of tutor/designer in Concept Catwalk, a project in collaboration with the V&A, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and fashion designer Nicky Vu for students of Prendergast Hilly Fields College.

The curators

Matilde Biagi (born 1990, Florence) is a London-based curator. She graduated with a BA in Contemporary Arts studies at Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna and is currently a second year student studying the Curating the Contemporary MA at the Whitechapel Gallery and The Cass. She works as a gallery assistant at Transition Gallery and writes short reviews and articles for Garageland Magazine and CUCO – Cultura Commestibile. In 2015 she co-curated the PROTECHT exhibition at Bank Space Gallery, bringing together national and international artists, and exploring the relationship with the screen and the impact it has on our everyday life. In October 2015 she worked in the Exhibitors Department at Frieze Masters and as part of CommaCollective, a curating collective based in London with a focus on contemporary art and an ambition to work with emerging artists, she collaborated with FloatArt London in the curation and production of FloatArt2015 exhibition at Bargehouse.

Inês Costa (born 1991, Almada) is a curator and photographer based in London. In 2012 she graduated with a BA in Multimedia Arts – Photography from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon and is currently enrolled on the Curating the Contemporary MA at the Whitechapel Gallery and The Cass. She has done freelance photography work for names such as Fact Magazine PT, Ponto Alternativo, Big Issue Foundation and Tangram Theatre Company and is currently working as a gallery assistant at GX Gallery in London. In 2015 she co-curated the PROTECHT exhibition at Bank Space Gallery, FloatArt2015 at the Bargehouse and co-founded CommaCollective.

Antonio Terzini (born 1985, Naples) is a London-based independent curator and art historian. He graduated in modern literature and specialised in art history. In 2012, he completed an MA in Conservation of Contemporary Art at Plart Museum in Naples and he is currently enrolled on the Curating the Contemporary MA at the Whitechapel Gallery and The Cass. He collaborated with the curatorial staff of the Plart Museum and with art institutions in the UK, such as Spike Island, Bristol Museum and Cell Project Space. He is co-founder of CommaCollective and is currently involved in curatorial projects between Italy and the UK. He recently co-curated the PROTECHT exhibition at Bank Space Gallery featuring national and international artists.