In Conversation with Tania Candiani—2023 Ree Kaneko Award Recipient

Mexico City-based interdisciplinary artist Tania Candiani explores the intersection between language systems: phonic, graphic, linguistic, symbolic, and technological. She was a 2004 Bemis Artist-in-Residence, and now, the 2023 recipient of Bemis Center’s Ree Kaneko Award.

Join us to celebrate and learn more about Tania’s current practice and how it connects to her experience as a Bemis alum.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tania Candiani lives and works in Mexico City. One of the central interests of her work is the expanded idea of translation, extended to the experimental field through the use of visual, sound, textual, and symbolic languages. Many of her projects consider the universe of sound and the politics of listening as a tool capable of expanding and transforming perceptions, both human and non-human. A fundamental part of her work is related to feminist policies and practices, understanding them as a communal, affective, and ritual experience. Her production usually involves interdisciplinary working groups in various fields, consolidating intersections between art, literature, music, architecture, science, and labor, with an emphasis on ancestral knowledge and techniques, technologies, and their history in the production of knowledge.

She is a member of the National System of Art Creators of Mexico; a former recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in the Arts, the Smithsonian Institution Research Grant for Artists; Artist-in-Residence at the Arts at CERN program in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2015 she represented Mexico at the 56th Venice Biennale. Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums, institutions, and independent spaces, and is part of a number of public and private collections.

ABOUT THE AWARD

Granted to artists that have participated in the residency program or had a solo exhibition at Bemis Center, this $25,000 unrestricted annual award is designed to provide financial support to increase the capacity of an alum’s practice. It is made possible by generous support from Bemis’s individual donors.

As part of Bemis Center’s 40th anniversary in 2021, the organization increased and renamed its annual Alumni Award in honor of Ree Kaneko, Bemis Center co-founder, first Executive Director, and Board Member Emerita, whose vision and passion embody the spirit of this unrestricted award and the transformational support it provides. Funds may be used for any purpose and do not need to be tied to a specific project or body of work. This award is by nomination only and is selected by a panel of renowned curators and art historians. Learn more.