Faculty exhibit in Venice earns a European Cultural Centre Award

A group of six faculty members in RIT’s College of Art and Design have earned the University & Research Projects Award from the European Cultural Centre (ECC) for their collection of works, titled “Cultural Disruptors.”

“Cultural Disruptors” was displayed at the ECC Palazzo Mora, located in Venice, Italy, as part of the “Personal Structures” exhibition, which ran from April 20 through Nov. 24, 2024, and was a featured exhibition during the 2024 Venice Art Biennial.

The faculty who received the award, and their works, include: 

• Vashti Anderson, assistant professor, School of Film and Animation — “Moko Jumbie” (film)
• Christine Banna, assistant professor, School of Film and Animation — “Pink Pottery” (experimental animation) 
• Elizabeth Kronfield, director, Schools of Art and American Crafts — “Chasing Tail” (sculpture)
• Joshua Rashaad McFadden, assistant professor, School of Photographic Arts and Sciences — “Love Without Justice” (photography)
• Juan Noguera, assistant professor, School of Design — “PastFastForward” (design, artificial intelligence)
• Shanti Thakur, director, School of Film and Animation — “Terrible Children” (film)

The jury of the ECC Awards celebrated the excellence displayed by participants in the “Personal Structures” exhibition. The international jury  was composed of a group of professionals working in the arts, including: Amit Gupta, Founder & Editor in Chief at STIRworld; Steve Bisson, Head of the Photography Department at Paris College of Art, Founder of Penisola Edizioni, and Editor in Chief at Urbanautica; Alexandra Laqueur, Managing Director and Maria Nekrassova, Co-founder of the European Cultural Academy; and Saskia Fernando, Director of Saskia Fernando Gallery, Paradise Road Group and Founder of KALĀ platform. The winners received a limited-edition artwork by the Dutch artist René Rietmeyer, founder of the ECC.

Visit the “Personal Structures” website for more details about the award.   

Explore the artworks

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ECC/Federico Vespignani

“Moko Jumbie,” written and directed by Vashti Anderson, explores themes of race, class and post-colonialism through a fictional story set in rural Trinidad. The film leans into magical realism, where taboo attraction lives amongst spirits in the natural world.

 

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“Pink Pottery” is an independent, experimental animation created by Christine Banna that juxtaposes vibrant imagery of the earliest artmaking with modern destructive technology. It is an exploration of our relationship with material culture, and includes art objects such as cave paintings, fertility figures, and pottery contrasted against destructive objects like arrows to modern missiles.

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“Chasing Tail,” created by Elizabeth Kronfield is a sculpture composed of cast iron and horsehair that explores the complexities of gender identity and connection as forced onto materials and forms.
 

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“Love without Justice” is a series of photos by Joshua Rashaad McFadden that delves into an autobiographical archive where intimate connections, the Black church, and vulnerability in family interconnect.
 

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“PastFastForward” is an industrial design experiment created by Juan Noguera. The project disrupts artificial intelligence tools of the global north by pairing them with traditional sand-casting techniques of Antigua, Guatemala, and prompts viewers to consider the unique relationships to capitalistic colonization.
 

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“Terrible Children” poses the universal question, “must we betray our family to grow up?” Written, directed, and edited by Shanti Thakur, the feature documentary film reveals the rich and complex interior lives of boys fighting to become men through personal narrative, reimagined history, and chronicles of racial nationalism.