Shiraz Sadikeen has been awarded the eighth annual residency at Gasworks, London for an artist from Aotearoa New Zealand artist, offered through a partnership between Gasworks, the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust and the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa.
Shiraz Sadikeen (b. 1989) lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He makes paintings and sculptures that mediate their own conditions of production and reception. Often made using ready-made or found materials, as well as various processes of abstraction and formal displacement, Shiraz’s work explores the associations between these objects and the situations from which they originally derive. During his residency at Gasworks, Shiraz will research the current political, economic and ideological circumstances of the United Kingdom, reflecting on its changing relationship to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Shiraz completed a BA (International Relations) at Victoria University Wellington in 2013, and a BFA and an MFA art Elam School of Fine Arts in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Recent solo exhibitions have included The Natural Rate, Treadler, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2024), Affirmation, Savage Garden, Naarm, Melbourne (2022), Ends, Coastal Signs, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2022), Securicraft, Coastal Signs, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2021), Geist, Neo Gracie, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2019). Shiraz has been a founding member of a number of art initiatives, including Treadler (2023–ongoing), Neo Gracie (2019–2023) and Samoa House Library (2019–2020).
Event
Winter Open Studios and Artists Presentations
With Luciana Decker Orozco (Boliva), Natalie Paneng (South Africa), Shiraz Sadikeen (New Zealand), Osamu Shikich (Japan) and michael. (Participation Residency Artist)
Get to know the Gasworks artists in residence at this free event offering visitors a unique opportunity to see, hear about and discuss the research and work-in-progress that the artists have been developing over the past three months.
Saturday 7 December 2024
Open Studios: 12-6pm | Artist Presentations 2pm and 4pm
Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH (nearest tubes Vauxhall and Oval)
Free and everyone welcome - for more information click here
About the residency
The Gasworks residency offers an early / mid-career artist from Aotearoa opportunities for self-led professional development, artistic exchange and experimentation and development of new international networks, and as such can be significant for the advancement of their career. Alongside the time for extensive practice-based research and access to artists in London with similar interests, Gasworks provides opportunities for the artist to develop new work and showcase their practice, work ethic and conceptual focuses to an international audience, including curators and collectors, unavailable in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The residency provides return flights to London, 24/7-access to a private studio space in the Gasworks building, accommodation in a house shared with three or four other international artists in residence with Gasworks, plus living and materials allowance.
The critical nature at the heart of Gasworks encourages the fostering of active dialogues with local creative practitioners, including artists, curators and writers, as well as direct engagement with important London-based artist-run spaces, collectives, galleries, museums, patrons and collectors.
This will be the eighth consecutive Gasworks Residency for a NZ artist. Previous artists from Aotearoa in residence at Gasworks are Sriwhana Spong, Katrina Beekhuis, Hikalu Clarke, Christina Pataialii, Sarah Rose, Campbell Patterson and Sorawit Songsataya.
Partners
Gasworks
Established in 1994, Gasworks is a non-profit contemporary visual art organisation working between UK and international practices, offering a cohesive space of critical dialogue and studio-driven practices. Gasworks run a highly respected international residency program offering artists the opportunity to research new work in London. Events, workshops and open-studio events are organised to engage the wider community, as well to provide the resident artists an opportunity to develop and expand their professional networks. Through Gasworks, curator and patron visits ensure that the artists are provided with an active landscape to ensure the exposure of their artistic practices.
Jan Warburton Charitable Trust
The Jan Warburton Charitable Trust (JWCT) was established by Dunedin-based collector and philanthropist, Jan Warburton, to support the development of contemporary art in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a particular focus on late-emerging and mid-career artists.
Supporters
The three-month, fully funded residency is made possible through the very generous support of the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust, private individuals who contribute to NZ Friends of Gasworks, leading luxury skincare brand Emma Lewisham and the British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.
The residency for a New Zealand artist at Gasworks was developed by the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust in 2016 and has been supported over the years by a number of individuals including David and Libby Richwhite, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Jenny and Andrew Smith, Sonja and Glenn Hawkins, Shirley-Ann and Rick Mannering, Tim Melville, Jan Warburton, Rosemary and Tim Auld and Ngila Boyd and Michael Lett and Andrew Thomas. Without their generosity, the residency would not be possible.
Natasha Beckman, Director of the British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and Pacific, says ”This is unique opportunity for Shiraz to expand and refine his artistic skills in London, a city known for its diversity and vibrant visual arts community. Embodying the essence of cultural exchange, a core value of the British Council, through this residency we know that Shiraz will share valuable insights about Aotearoa with others during his time in London.”
Emma Lewisham, commented “I am honoured to be partnering with Gasworks to help support Shiraz through their London residency. This initiative provides an unparalleled opportunity for Shiraz to research, experiment and develop their discipline alongside a community of other international creatives, receive extensive pastoral and curatorial support, and develop and expand their professional networks in what can provide a significant advancement in their career.”
