Five questions with curator Adriana Marques

Besides her job as Principal Advisor for Arts and Cultural Strategy for the Olympic Delivery Authority, Adriana Marques forms part of the Rise Art Board of Curators. She also organises the exhibitions of the Austrian Cultural Forum in London and we wanted ask her a few questions about its latest venture 'Terms of Decision', an exciting collaborative project between artists Blue Curry and Miriam Bajtala, which opens this Thursday the 17th of March.

The curator and Rise Art collaborator Adriana Marques

You are the curator of the Visual Arts Platform at the Austrian Cultural Forum. What does this programme consist of?

I set up the Visual Arts Platform at the Austrian Cultural Forum with my Austrian colleague Eva Martischnig as a way to promote emerging artists from Austria. There is such a wealth of great artists in Austria, and this platform became a way of bringing new art to London as well as promoting these artists.

This week sees the opening of the collaborative show ‘Terms of Decision’, that features Miriam Bajtala and Blue Curry. Does this mark a new phase in the project?

After five years of presenting just solo shows, we decided to present collaborative shows between UK and Austrian based artists, opening up new exciting possibilities. ‘Terms of Decision’ is the first exhibition of this scheme. Blue and Miriam have worked hard via skype and email to bring together existing works as well as collaborating on something new. They have been working together for two weeks now in London to refine the show before we open this Thursday. We are all really excited to see what happens!

'Untitled' (2010) by artist Blue Curry

You are also working as the Principal Advisor for Arts and Cultural Strategy for the Olympic Delivery Authority. How is it relevant to relate contemporary art with the Olympics?

I mainly advise on how we can integrate contemporary art commissions into the Olympic Park itself. The cultural Olympiad, which is a national festival that aims at celebrating the UK’s cultural richness during the Olympics, is largely temporary. But all the commissions we are developing in the park itself are permanent and will be there for years to come when local communities use the park after the games. I think it's really important to commission artists as part of this process of regeneration in the Olympic urban area.

The fantastic artist Carsten Nicolai is in charge of one of the commissions. What other highlights can we expect?

Carsten was one of the first artists to be commissioned as part of our programme to integrate art with the architecture. Further projects include two amazing new commissions by Clare Woods and DJ Simpson, a landmark new light work by Monica Bonvicini, and also a really great series of interventions in the landscape by young local artists Tomas Klassnik, Riitta Ikonen and We Made That.

View of the work by artist Carten Nicolai for the Olympic Park

Before I let you go, tell me one or two Rise Artist that interest you particularly and why?

I find Kevin Jackson's hatched works particularly fascinating. They aim for both firm and abstraction, while using architectural forms to meet somewhere in the middle, and the photos of Pedro Guimaraes I always love to look at. I think the art of contemporary photography is in being able to frame the unexpected moments of the everyday in a way that looks both effortless and layered. I never see everything in his images at just the first look.

'#44, Priory Rd, Richmond' by Rise Art artist Pedro Guimaraes

'Terms of Decision'. An exhibition with works by MIRIAM BAJTALA & BLUE CURRY

18 March - 29 April 2011

Private view: Thursday 17 March 2011, 6:30 – 8.30 pm

Austrian Cultural Forum London

28 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PQ

www.acflondon.org