Central St Martins

The School of Art at Central Saint Martins is delighted to be in a position to support and work with an emerging Italian artist by hosting the winner of the prestigious Ariane de Rothschild Prize.

The nine-month ‘residency’ that this prize offers suggests an incubation period that will nurture and cultivate growth and development. Besides offering new stimulus and inspiration, the advantage of leaving a place one has grown accustomed to and taking up temporary residence in a new culture and context is that it allows you to see where you have come from, through a different lens, from another perspective.

Making art is often site specific even when it is not intended to be. The particular qualities of a place and the physical and social conditions and possibilities it offers up frequently shape the work that an artist makes, consciously and/or unconsciously. Being a young artist in London, arriving perhaps for the first time, left adrift without any support structure could certainly be a daunting and potentially fraught experience. Knowing this the Fondation Ariane de Rothschild has taken great care to ensure that the prizewinne is in a position to benefit from the opportunity to study and develop their practice through the residency.

By the time that he or she arrives in London, the College will have moved to its new home in Kings Cross. Its three Schools of Art; Fashion and Textiles; Graphics and Industrial Design and the Centre for Performance will have come together under one roof for the first time, and this will create opportunities for interaction and exchange between students and staff from a wide range of disciplines that has been difficult to achieve in the past. This will undoubtedly be an exciting and pioneering time for everyone at the College.

Mark Dunhill
Director, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London