About CCPA
The Curatorial Collective for Public Art (CCPA) is an independent agency for the conceptualisation, production, mediation and representation of public art. It develops curatorial formats for site-specific, transdisciplinary, critical and urban art. CCPA understand the “public” in the term public art as the medium and material of its practice. As an initiative without a fixed space, it often works in the urban space; however, its practice extends into the public sphere, as well as the public in the sense of audience. Due its nomadic character, the collective is not tied to an exhibition space, and continues to conceptualize context-specific formats for its projects, which elude the traditional understanding of curating.
CCPA views its practice as a collaborative, transdisciplinary endeavor on the intersection between concept, organization and design - akin to Maria Lind’s understanding of the curatorial as a methodology that reaches far beyond the mere activity of curating, and that can be executed or performed by actors in many different positions in the ecosystem of art. Long-term conceptual and creative collaborations with cooperation partners and reciprocal process with artists are an essential part of curatorial work. CCPA’s practice can be characterized as what Florian Malzacher calls “performative curating”. Thanks to the interdisciplinary backgrounds of its members, the collective makes use of artistic strategies that are more common in the field of theater and performance art, in order to create “reality-making” situations that not only describe their own reality, but generate an awareness of it. Although based in Berlin, the collective works translocally and unites the international networks of its members.
CCPA views its practice as a collaborative, transdisciplinary endeavor on the intersection between concept, organization and design - akin to Maria Lind’s understanding of the curatorial as a methodology that reaches far beyond the mere activity of curating, and that can be executed or performed by actors in many different positions in the ecosystem of art. Long-term conceptual and creative collaborations with cooperation partners and reciprocal process with artists are an essential part of curatorial work. CCPA’s practice can be characterized as what Florian Malzacher calls “performative curating”. Thanks to the interdisciplinary backgrounds of its members, the collective makes use of artistic strategies that are more common in the field of theater and performance art, in order to create “reality-making” situations that not only describe their own reality, but generate an awareness of it. Although based in Berlin, the collective works translocally and unites the international networks of its members.
Artistic Directors
Yael Sherill (1982, Tel-Aviv) is a freelance curator, cultural manager and dramaturg working between the performing and visual arts. In her work, she explores mediation in and as art with an emphasis on public art. Yael also researches meta-curatorial questions relating to alternative organisational and economic structures in the cultural sector. In 2013, Yael co-founded B_Tour, a nomadic curatorial platform dedicated to guided tours as an artistic strategy in contemporary performance, sound and visual art. In the context of B_Tour she curated festivals and individual projects such as “Grande Saison SanuaK” (Kaunas Capital of Culture, 2022), “Tracks in Box” (Berlin, CLB gallery, 2019), “Foothold Festival B_Tours Tel-Aviv / Jaffa / Lod” (2017), “Through Someone Else’s Eyes” (Copenhagen Art Week, 2016), “B_Tours Leipzig – Movement in Urban Space” (2015), “Seeing the city with new eyes - B_Tour Belgrade” (2014) among others. Yael has worked as a dramaturg, project manager and assistant director on interdisciplinary theater projects with artists such as Katharina Haverich (2021), the Centre for Political Beauty (2018-2019) and Ilya Khrzhanovsky (2018). She also moderated and curated panel discussions and conferences about self-organisation in the arts as part of Moneylab Berlin (2021), Performing Arts Program’s Industry Get-Together Berlin (2018, 2020) and re:publica19 (2019).
www.yaelsherill.com
www.b-tour.org
www.yaelsherill.com
www.b-tour.org
Lianne Mol (1992, Netherlands) is an independent curator and cultural manager. In her practice, she experiments with curatorial formats and cultural mediation, with a focus on public art and institutional critique. She also researches sustainability questions in the fashion industry. Lianne has a Research Master’s degree in Art and Visual Culture from the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and finished parts of her training at Node Center for Curatorial Studies, the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts Salzburg, Amsterdam University, Leiden University, and Humboldt University Berlin. Lianne joined the nomadic curatorial platform B_Tour in 2019 in the frame of the exhibition project “Tracks in a Box”, and curated “Grande Saison SanuaK” in the frame of Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022. Between 2017 and 2019, she collaborated with ZK/U - Center for Art and Urbanistics Berlin, where she curated “Fussballaballa” (2019) and “ART as/is SOCIAL” (2017), and worked on ongoing projects and formats such as “CityToolBox”, “Hacking Urban Furniture”, “Speisekino” and “OPENHAUS”. Lianne has collaborated with institutions such as Kutna Hora Theater Festival, SUPERMARKT Berlin, Performing Arts Festival Berlin, OSCAM Amsterdam, CLB Berlin and LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum. Her texts were published in various media, e.g. "ARTECITYA: 9 approaches to urban challenges" (2018) and "I can’t work like this: A reader on recent boycotts and contemporary art" (2017).
www.liannemol.com
www.liannemol.com
Co-Founders
José Délano (1978, Chile) works at the intersection of art and design. In his work, the subject of a project determines the specific formal approach; a process that avoids stylistic tendencies and categorisations. His strategy is to activate specific subjects in targeted locations in order to find a unique visual language that then gives shape to installations, sculptures, urban interventions or exhibition design and visual communication. José holds a Bachelor’s degree in Integral Design from Pontificia Universidad Católica in Santiago de Chile and a Master’s degree in Visual Communication from Edinburgh College of Art, UK. He is co-founder and artistic director of the collective Visual Public Service and Kap Hoorn, a platform for artists from Latin America in Berlin. José was commissioned the “100 years of Bauhaus” installation (2020) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago de Chile, where he has also presented work as part of other major exhibitions, including “The triumph of the Arch” (2017) and “Splitting House” (2014). He also created interventions in the public space such as “Newcomers” (2016) at Prinzessinnengarten Berlin and “Windows” (2013) at the Venice Biennale. José works regularly as the exhibition designer of Silent Green, Berlin. José is Co-Founder of CCPA and has been working on projects as exhibition and spatial designer, artist and graphic designer since 2019.
www.josedelano.com
www.josedelano.com
Julia Kawka (1987, Germany) is active in the field of performing arts with an emphasis on international productions and multi-lingual projects. Until 2019 she worked as assistant director and production assistant as part of the artist group Theater Das Letzte Kleinod, which is specialized in site-specific documentary theater and has been shown in Germany as well as internationally in urban and rural areas. There she worked on international productions such as “Flucht-Ucieczka” (2016), “Wir haben die Angst gefressen” (2017) and “Kabul: Homeland & Hell” (2018). In Fall 2018 Julia led a theater pedagogical workshop with young people around the topic of democracy at Teatr Miniatura in Gdansk. Since 2014 she has worked on theater productions at Teatr Powszechny in Zygmunta Hübnera, Warsaw, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Schauspiel Hannover and Residenztheater in Munich. Since 2019 she has been connected to B_Tour as production assistant and has been working as a freelance set designer and production assistant with VorOrtung e.V. zeitgenössische Kunst und Kultur im Kontext. Julia is Co-Founder of CCPA and was part of the team between 2019 and 2023.
