SUPAVENEZIA — SARAH STATON 31.8 — 25.9 22

31.8 — 25.9 22

A project by Sarah Staton, co-curated by the School for Curatorial Studies Venice 2022 cohort. Established in 1993, the series has developed as an evolving group exhibition. The first edition, SupaStore 93, was held on Charing Cross Road in London. Subsequently, SupaStore has reached over two dozen international locations, including New York (SupaStore Luxe, 1996, SupaStore Noir, 1997), Bregenz (SupaStore in the Mountains, 1998), Vienna (SupaStore Sleep, 2014), Berlin (SupaStore Tina, 2015), Lithuania (SupaStore NIDA, 2020), and most recently, South Korea (SupaStore Pressure Drop, 2021). Over the course of its 29-year global tenure, the show has exhibited world-renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, and Fiona Banner. As both a curatorial project and an artwork in its own right, SupaStore explores the practice of shopping as a social, communal, political, and economic activity while holding a mirror to the neo-capitalist mechanisms of today’s art market. Through her focus on multiples and editions, Staton invites the audience to reconsider ideals of exclusivity and authenticity. Via the lens of consumer culture, SupaVenezia provides new approaches to analyzing the evolution of an ancient city through the dynamics of commerce and marketing. By reading the city of Venice as a brand which operates within the larger system of global capitalism, SupaStore explores what the city has to offer, for whom, and for what purposes. SupaVenezia aims to examine how history, tradition, culture, and art transform into raw materials for the brand to process, package, and present in order to achieve its market objectives. In consideration of this city’s unique context, 10% of sales will be donated to We Are Here Venice, a non-profit working on environmental and social issues to ensure that Venice remains a livable city. In addition to SupaVenezia’s contribution to We Are Here Venice, visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to make a donation to the organization. https://www.weareherevenice.org/ SupaVenezia features AGOSTINO, Moozhan Ahmadzadegan, Francesca Anfossi, Taylor Carruthers, Nina Ceranic, Giorgia Agnese Cereda, Guendalina Cerutti, CHiNGLiSH WANG, Kate Davis and David Moore, Hannah Doucet, Saule Dyussembina, Julia Frank, Zuza Golinska, Phillipa Horan, Steph Huang, Melanie Jackson, Hetty Laycock, Jin Joo Lee, Jaspar Joseph Lester, Cosima Montavoci, Mila Morelli, Flore Mycek, Laura O Neill, Iryna Ozarynska, Minjoon Park, Cullinan Richards, Filippo Rizzonelli, Henrique Schmeil, Ioana Maria Sisea, Francesco Snote, Saule Suleimenova, Sunset Yogurt, Patricio Tejedo, Jake Tilson, Fabiano Vicentini, Klaus Weber, Maria Xilo, and Camille Yvert. The project is realised with the support of the Royal College of Art.