Suriname¡¯s participation in the World Bank Art program ¡®About Change¡¯, a positive step for Surinamese art in its pursuit to further integrate into the globalizing art world.
The About Change emerging artists program is an initiative of the World Bank in partnership with the Inter American Development Bank, the OAS, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. About Change is a series of juried exhibitions of contemporary art from Latin America and the Caribbean region that will take place during 2011 and 2012 at different locations in Washington, D.C., including the World Bank, the Art Museum of the Americas, and the galleries of the Inter American Development Bank. It is organized by the World Bank Art Program under auspices of the World Bank Vice Presidency for Latin America and the Caribbean Region.
In response to an online call for entry from the World Bank in 2010, in which artists from Latin America and the Caribbean were invited to apply for participation in her About Change art program, a number of artists affiliated to the Readytex Art Gallery sent in their applications. Within the About Change art program of the World Bank, emerging artists from the two previously mentioned regions would be given the opportunity to present their artworks in exhibitions at multiple locations of the World Bank and other prominent organizations within her network, during 2011 and 2012.
In October the list of participating artists was announced: from Suriname Marcel Pinas, George Struikelblok, Sri Irodikromo, Dhiradj Ramsamoedj, Jhunry Udenhout and Hanka Wolterstorff were selected to present their Works at the exhibitions of the About Change art program of the World Bank. Also participating for Suriname is artist Patricia Kaersenhout who lives and works in the Netherlands. The artworks of the Surinamese artists are to be displayed at two separate exhibitions within the program.
The First event, an exhibition in which exclusively art from the Caribbean is showcased, had its opening on Friday January 21st, 2011 in the Art Museum of the Americas of the OAS in Washington DC. In this exhibition named ¡°Wrestling with the image: Caribbean interventions¡±, works from the artists Marcel Pinas, Sri Irodikromo, Dhiradj Ramsamoedj and also Patricia Kaersenhout are included. The press release from the organization stated amongst other things the following: ¡°The exhibition presents works in a variety of media, including photography, video, painting, graphic arts, sculpture, and installation. The scope of the objects demonstrates how the region¡¯s contemporary artists are confronting stereotypes about the Caribbean without denying their own surroundings or rejecting the worlds in which they operate¡±. The curators of this exhibition are artist and curator Christopher Cozier (the Trinidadian Cozier was also co curator of the exhibition Paramaribo SPAN at De Surinaamsche Bank N.V. in Suriname in February of 2010) and art historian Tatiana Flores. The exhibition will be on display until March 10th of 2011.
Showing from Marcel Pinas is a fragment of his bottle installation Kibii wi koni which consists of 5000 glass bottles wrapped in pangi cloth, symbolizing the traditional knowledge and wisdom of the maroons; from Ramsamoedj there is his life sized Flexible lady , an installation of a female figure made from thousands of pieces of multicolored cloth which seems to represent the identity of the equally colorful multicultural Surinamese and Caribbean person; included from Irodikromo is her vibrant red and orange hued, 10 meters long, Ingi Winti batik wall hanging in which she uses traditional signs and symbols to reflect upon the cross cultural influences between the maroon and indigenous communities in Suriname.
In relation to this exhibition a magnificent online catalogue was produced by Richard Rawlins of Draconian Switch in conjunction with the Art Museum of the Americas and the Organization of American States (OAS), which can be downloaded for free at http://www.artzpub.com/content/special-publications/wrestling-image . More information about the exhibition is also available at the website of the Art Museum of the Americas http://www.museum.oas.org/exhibitions.html .
After the exhibition at the Art Museum of the Americas, which will also include several special activities and discussions, the work of all Surinamese artists will be shown at the About Change exhibition at the World Bank itself. In “About Change – Wrestling With The Image” ¨C artists from all member countries in the Caribbean region, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, will exhibit their work at the World Bank from April 7th until June 30th of 2011. This exhibition will also include the majority of the work previously exhibited at the IADB and the OAS.
For more information and photographs please visit the face book page of Readytex Art Gallery http://www.facebook.com/Readytex.Art.Gallery or contact Readytex Art Gallery by telephone at (597) 421750. For more information about the artists and their work also visit our website www.readytexartgallery.com
Project description:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/GSDARTPROGRAM/Resources/254045-1266517758375/AboutChangeProject_English.pdf
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsdcollection/sets/72157626620329469/
http://arcthemagazine.com/arc/2011/05/about-change-in-latin-america-the-caribbean/
Hanka Wolterstorff 
Sri Irodikromo 
Dhiradj Ramsamoedj 
Roddney Tjon Poen Gie