Mediator Callout – Ireland at Venice

Project Arts Centre invites applications for the role of Exhibition Mediator of the Irish Pavilion with artist Eimear Walshe at the 60th Venice Biennale 2024.

The Exhibition Mediators are a hugely important part of Ireland’s presence in Venice. Mediators have the principal responsibility of sharing Eimear Walshe’s exhibition and ideas with a local and international audience. The exhibition in Venice will further Walshe’s practice of offering a new cultural synthesis that links our contemporary moment to the past. It thinks about the gendered and sexual legacies related to the history of land and housing activism – including the compromises made at the end of the 1880s, and the statecraft of the early 20th century. Working with a range of deeply talented collaborators, their work proposes a relationship with land and shelter driven by collective agency and community.

This is an opportunity for twelve Exhibition Mediators to be a part of the Ireland in Venice 2024 team. It is a chance to develop professional connections, engage with artists and art practices from across the world and be immersed in the unique city of Venice. This opportunity is suitable for graduates and students with a background in Fine Art, Visual Media or History of Art, early-career artists and creative practitioners based on the island of Ireland, with a knowledge of and excitement for contemporary visual art.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: 

• Welcoming visitors and engaging in conversations about the artist, exhibition and the visual arts in Ireland
• Opening and closing the exhibition at the required hours, including securing the venue and key holder duties
• Care of the artwork, and keeping the exhibition area clean and tidy
• Daily and weekly reporting duties to the Venice Biennale 2024 team
• Assisting with social media

The Venice Biennale runs from April to November 2024, with two Exhibition Mediators living in Venice and working at the Irish Pavilion at one time, for the full duration. It is a minimum commitment of 6 weeks, with a shared schedule to work Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, working roughly 28 hours per week.

Project Arts Centre will provide:

• Remuneration of €400 per week.
• Accommodation in a shared apartment in Venice, 10 mins walk from the Irish Pavilion in the Arsenale.
• Return flights from Dublin to Venice, and a Vaporetto pass (Venice Public Transport Ticket).
• Training with the Venice Biennale 2024 team at Project Arts Centre.

APPLICATION DETAILS 

• Expression of interest (300 words).
• State name, email address, phone number, gender pronouns.
• CV (2 pages).
• Your preferred time to mediate i.e. April to June, June to August, August to October or October to November.

Expressions of interest can be sent in other formats (voice recording, video). Please send your application to sara@projectartscentre.ie with the subject line VENICE MEDIATOR. Application deadline is Thursday 1 February 2024 (by midnight). Interviews will be held on Friday 16 February 2024 on Zoom. 

Easy read and audio versions of this callout are available below.

Project Arts Centre is committed to recruiting Exhibition Mediators from the broadest variety of early-career artists and practitioners by removing barriers that would usually be associated with this opportunity. In addition to the €400 weekly fee, we are offering a bursary benchmarked at around €1000 per mediator term. This can be used to defray access costs, such as: paying ongoing rent in Ireland; access accomodations for disability; additional care for dependants; or any other necessary support.

Applicants with access requirements or financial needs are invited to write a statement of approx. 300 words to let us know how additional support would reduce barriers for your participation.

Accessibility details for working as an Exhibition Mediator in Venice:

We are cognisant of the challenges posed to physical accessibility in Venice, a city which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The shared apartment is on the second floor of the building, up approximately 40 steps. The steps are uneven and narrow. The Irish Pavilion is in the Arsenale, it is a 15 mins walk from the apartment and the route includes crossing a bridge that is 3 steps up and 8 steps down on the other side. Once entering the Arsenale, the route to the Irish Pavilion is fine, sandy gravel. The average temperature ranges from 16°C in April to 28°C in the hottest month of July. In November it can get as cold as 5°C. In general Venice’s road surfaces are paved slabs, and the streets can be narrow. There are many bridges that cross canals and these often have only steps. The city can be more challenging to navigate at night due to low level public lighting and un-railed canals. Public transport in Venice consists of ‘vaporetti’ or boats, and according to the Città di Venezia website, all boat landing stages and boats are accessible. Motorboats are equipped for one wheelchair user at a time. The Città di Venezia have produced a map detailing the accessible bridges and areas of the city that are accessible by means of vaporetti and motorboats. Please email rachel@projectartscentre.ie with any queries.

We are delighted to partner with three educational institutions for mediator positions in this edition of Ireland at Venice and we especially welcome applications from current students and graduates from The Limerick School of Art and Design TUS (LSAD), Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), and the UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy BA and MA programmes.  Please note that people from other institutions and courses and, indeed, those who are not coming from third-level education, are also very welcome to apply.

Kindly supported by Culture Ireland, The Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City Council, support from our donors and edition sales, and partners The Limerick School of Art and Design, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), and the UCD School of Art History.  

Venice Biennale 2024 | Exhibition Mediator Call Out

Click Here for our Easy Read.