Delfina Foundation. Photo Kii Studios
With the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world, we have been reminded of our global reach at Delfina Foundation.
The home of the Foundation is in central London, at the heart of the cultural capital and the UK’s seat of power. In the last few weeks we have witnessed our neighbourhood come to an unprecedented standstill, along with the whole of the UK and (at the time of writing) a third of the entire world.
‘Unprecedented’ is a word that has been used repeatedly to describe this global pandemic, and for us, it is unprecedented to have suspended our programme. As many national borders were closing and planes grounded to a halt, we oversaw the safe return of our winter season artists and curators-in-residence to almost every corner of the world: Latin America, North America, Africa, Asia and Europe. We continue to work with them remotely to further support and develop their practice and networks – including, for example, through online studio visits with curators.
These times have introduced a new way of living and relating to one another, which we hope to explore through virtual programming. We are evolving what would have been an open studios event for our winter residents into a series of online presentations of the projects that they initiated and developed during their residencies. We are also featuring daily archival images on social media, and the PLATFORM section of our website continues to provide a wealth of video, text and photographic outcomes from our residencies and activities, including our performance programme for last year’s Venice Biennale.
Family Meals have become a much-cherished tradition at Delfina Foundation, regularly bringing together our ‘household’ of residents and our team for a home-cooked meal with invited guests, including artists, curators, collectors, academics, gallerists and supporters. These have often been held in times of crises – when it is important more than ever to connect – but this pandemic forces us to be apart for a while. Therefore, over the next few weeks we will be sharing a newly-adapted version our family lunches: the Family Lunch – Home Delivery. Each of these ‘deliveries’ will contain a recipe from a previous resident or associate chef, accompanied by a short video presentation from one of our alumni. Be sure to sign up to our mailing list to receive these.
Hospitality and conviviality form the core of our engagement with artists and audiences alike and we look forward to welcoming you back to Delfina Foundation as soon as we can.
– Aaron Cezar
Director, Delfina Foundation