Curator Ric Kasini Kadour Ric Kasini Kadour is a 2021 receipt of a Curatorial Fellowship from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts. He is a writer, artist, publisher, and cultural worker, who is interested in how contemporary art intersects with history. Kadour is the editor and publisher of Kolaj Magazine. He has written for a number of galleries and his writing has appeared in Hyperallergic, Vermont Magazine, Seven Days, OEI, Seattle Weekly, Art New England (where he was the former Vermont editor) and many others. Kadour maintains an active art practice and his photography, collage, and sculpture have been exhibited in and are part of private collections in Australia, Europe and North America. He holds a BA in Comparative Religion from the University of Vermont. Kadour splits his time between Montreal and New Orleans. Kadour’s curatorial practice extends to three interest areas: Art Meets History In January 2021, Kadour was awarded a Curatorial Fellowship from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, where he will spend the following two years researching the intersection of art and history, and in particular how historic sites can work with contemporary artists to pick up the unfinished work of history and contribute to the civic discourse. Working with the Art Meets History initiative of Kasini House, Kadour works to build connections between contemporary art and history-focused organizations and how artists investigate a sense of place, pick up the unfinished work of history, speak to contemporary civic discourse around social, economic, and environmental issues. As Curator of Contemporary Art at Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vermont in 2019 and 2020, he curated three exhibitions, “Rokeby Through the Lens” (May 19-June 16, 2019) which presented the role of photography at the site and “Mending Fences: New Work by Carol MacDonald” (June 15-October 25, 2020) which presented objects, monotype prints, and site-specific installations that used the physical repair of objects as a metaphor for social reconciliation and justice in the face of complex cultural challenges. For the third exhibition, “Structures” (August 24-October 27, 2019), which explored how buildings share our world, Kadour worked closely with War Is Over and Stella Jones Gallery to present works by Yoko Ono and Beverly Buchanan in the exhibition. In 2019, Kadour led the symposium, Art Meets History. Past and future artist labs at Rokeby Museum in Vermont, Tulane University in New Orleans, 516 ARTS and the Albuquerque Museum Photography Archive in New Mexico, and the Southern Vermont Arts Center bring together artists from across North America and around the world for an intensive workshop investigating the relationship between contemporary art, place, and history. Collage Kadour is interested in shifting the axis of art history from painting to collage. Since 2018, he has produced Kolaj Fest New Orleans, a multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society. In 2018, Kadour curated “Revolutionary Paths: Critical Issues in Collage” at Antenna Gallery in New Orleans, which bought together collage artists whose work represents the potential for deeper inquiry and further curatorial exploration of the medium. In 2019, “Cultural Deconstructions: Critical Issues in Collage” at LeMieux Galleries in New Orleans, demonstrated how collage deconstructed and reconstructed culture. The symposium,COLLAGE::BOOKS at Volume 2 MTL, considered the book, as opposed to the gallery, as the vehicle of the diffusion of collage. “Where the Sun Casts No Shadow: Postcards from the Creative Crossroads of Quito, Ecuador” at the Wilson Museum & Galleries at the Southern Vermont Arts Center (November 1-30, 2019), brought together the in-camera collage works of Stephen & Eve Schaub, the murals of Mo Vásquez, documentary photographs of PLAYhouse in Quito, the poetry of Maria Clara Sharupi Jua in Spanish, English, and Shuar; and art from Quito’s El Club de Collage. The exhibition traces the role collage plays in art community building.and offers a counter-narrative to the portrayal of Latin America as in a state of constant crisis. In January-February 2020, Kadour was artist-in-residence at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland where he curated work by two hundred artists from twenty-seven countries to demonstrate how collage is a 21st century art movement. With Suzanne Sbarge of 516 ARTS in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he co-curated “Radical Reimaginings” (August 22-December 31, 2020), which invited artists who use collage in their practice to put forward a work of art that offers a visual narrative that speaks to our time. Kadour co-curated “The Money $how” with Artdose Magazine’s Frank Juarez at Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (April 10-August 10, 2021), in which each artist in the exhibition used collage to unpack ideas about money and its influence on our culture. Contemporary Regionalism Kadour is concerned about the broken relationship between art and society and employs a viewer-centric, community-driven approach to curating that seeks to connect viewers to the art of their community. At the Wilson Museum & Galleries at the Southern Vermont Arts Center he curated “Contemporary American Regionalism: Vermont Perspectives” (August 17-October 20, 2019). The exhibition used the Southern Vermont Arts Center’s permanent collection as a point of departure and presents contemporary art from eleven artists in light of the themes raised by 20th century Regionalists and relates how contemporary art speaks to present day issues and concerns. Kadour is interested in artist communities and networks. Working with the Vermont Arts Council, Kadour curated four exhibits: “Connection: The Art of Coming Together” (2017) mapped artist networks by asking artists to nominate others for the exhibition. Between 2018 and 2020, he curated Vermont Artists to Watch in which a network of curators selected artists from around the state whose careers they are following. The goal of these exhibitions was to make public the ways artists support and nurture each other. Websites www.rickasinikadour.com www.kasinihouse.com www.kolajmagazine.com