International
Our international projects put artists’ voices on the global stage. We create opportunities to share art and performance with international audiences, and for artists to collaborate across borders and cultures. Often, these opportunities are artists’ first experience of working and showing internationally.
International and intercultural exchange are vital to the careers of creatives, and also to our society, to foster respect and understanding of diversity. As the UK creates a new identity and position on the world stage, the arts play an important role in shaping that identity.
For more than ten years, UKNA has taken artists to represent the UK at the International Biennale of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean (BJCEM), from Albania to Milan to Sarajevo and more. We have also worked with partners in South Korea, China, Norway and Canada to provide platforms for showcasing, collaboration and learning.
As we look forward to the next 10 years we remain committed to opening new doors and developing new partners and collaborations for new artists, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, East Asia and Europe.
“Participating in the Mediterranea Biennale was a fantastic experience. It was very nourishing to be exposed to so much art in Genoa and Milan, and to learn so much about my international contemporaries and their work. The confidence this experience has given me - both in this particular artwork and as an artist in general - is invaluable. I also have a much less blinkered and anglo-centric idea about what art is and and about what life as an artist is like. I had conversations I’ll never forget about parts of the world I’ve never been to, which have really broadened my awareness and interests. ”
Read more below about our international projects and partners.
International Projects
International Partners & Collaborators
EUROPE / THE MEDITERRANEAN
BJCEM (Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée), is an international network founded in Sarajevo in 2001, with a registered office in Brussels and an executive one in Turin.
The Network comprises 52 members from 18 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, gathering together cultural institutions and independent organisations.
The aim of the Association is to create opportunities for training, mobility, exchange, intercultural dialogue and collaboration.
NORWAY / NORDIC REGION
Platform Nord is a showcase for young Nordic contemporary art. The goal is to create a meeting place in the Nordic region for young artists and their work.
The festival recruits from all over the Nordic region, runs across branches and has the original artistic idea in focus.
MONTREAL, CANADA
Founded in 1996, Studio XX is a bilingual feminist artist-run centre that supports technological experimentation, creation and critical reflection in media arts. XX assists in the independent production and diffusion of art created by artists who identify as women, trans, non-binary and queer in the field of contemporary technological practices.
SHANGHAI, CHINA
Yiyuan Tang Museum & Foundation is one of the most exclusive private NGO’s, founded in 2008 in China. The museum and foundation primarily focuses on the development of arts and culture, and it is known as the pioneer of the China Renaissance Movement. It’s collection, known as Yiyuan Tang Collection holds some of the most symbolic artworks of China Renaissance Movement. The museum and foundation has an exhibition program and various art initiatives, also working in research and development.
MOMBASA, KENYA
Jukwaa Arts is a theatre company based in Mombasa Kenya. We are a creative greenhouse which voices social issues through creation and presentation of performing and visual arts. Through community theatre, street art installations, and artists’ hangouts, we trigger conversations on pertinent social issues and injustices affecting our community.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
Gallery N&K is a fine arts gallery located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul in South Korea. The gallery features the work of established international artists and all sorts of creaters. An extensive collection of paintings, ceramics, sculpture, glass and photography is showcased in a light-filled exhibition space.
The gallery features a special showing of one or more artists. Each current feature showcases an exhibition, beginning with an opening reception with art specialists in attendance.
“I was chosen to represent the UK at the Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in Italy. The Biennale presented invaluable opportunity for intercultural exchange, which has since left an indelible influence on my own fundamental ideas, artistic ways of thinking and creating. For me it was a special and unique first experience of exhibiting on an international stage, full of wonder and creativity from every artistic spectrum. It was a privileged honour to represent the UK, which I believe to be my greatest achievement.”